The Pipiwai Trail is one of the most popular hikes in all of Maui. It is located on the famous Road to Hana and is part of the also very popular Haleakalā National Park. The hike leads to the beautiful Waimoku Waterfall, along bamboo forests and beautiful and untouched nature. We will now tell you where to get tickets for the Pipiwai Trail, whether the hike is worth it and what you will experience on the way.
But one thing in advance: The Waimoku Waterfall and the whole Pipiwai Trail are a real highlight on Maui.
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Pipiwai Trail Hike
Short information about the Pipiwai Trail:
- Length: 6.1 km (there & back)
- Duration: 2 hours
- Circular route: no
- Altitude difference: 277 meters
- Difficulty: easy
- GPX: Pipiwai Trail Hike at Alltrails
The hike starts at the official parking lot, where there is a small visitor center with a restroom. Then you cross the road where the trail enters the forest. It first goes uphill for a bit and after a short while you will reach the first highlight of the Pipiwai hike, the impressive waterfall ʻOheʻo Gulch.
There is a small viewpoint from which you can admire the waterfall. Unfortunately, you can not walk down here, but you have to take another way from the road.
On the way you will pass a huge banyan tree. This tree is the second largest of its kind on Maui, the largest is in the small village of Lāhainā, from where most whale watching tours* on Maui start. A banyan tree has countless huge branches and additional trunks that reach from these branches to the ground. You haven’t seen anything like it, I promise.
Shortly after that you will enter a bamboo forest. There are 10-15 meter high bamboo trees on both sides of the path. You will walk on a paved board path and thus you will get through this part of the Pipiwai Trail hike dry even if it rains.
The Waimoku Waterfall
Shortly after you have made it and you are almost at the Waimoku Waterfall. You are only separated by a small river and a prohibition sign.
Officially, you are not allowed to pass the sign for safety reasons, because the immediate vicinity of the waterfall is very dangerous due to falling boulders. But you don’t have to pass the sign, because the view of the waterfall is not necessarily better.
But if you decide to continue – as we did – you will have to cross a narrow river first. With some climbing skills you can do this without getting your feet wet. Thanks to the many stones and rocks in the water.
If you want to get all the way to the waterfall, then you have to walk about a hundred meters further, which is not so easy. We have therefore not even tried, but have left it at the river crossing.
By the way, the Waimoku waterfall in front of you usually consists not only of a single waterfall, but – especially during heavy rainfall – of two or even more watercourses. By the way, the Hawaiian name Waimoku means something like “water that cuts or divides”.
And this is also how the water stream divides on the hill here, and during our visit there were 2 large waterfalls and at least 2 smaller ones that cascade down from the cliff face, which is about 122 meters high and covered with poison green grass and trees.
Tickets for the Pipiwai Trail
The hike to Waimoku Falls is in the Haleakalā National Park, so it costs $30 admission per car, no matter how many people are in it. You have to buy a ticket online weeks before your visit.
By the way, the tickets for the Pipiwai Trail are the same ones you need to visit the spectacular Haleakalā Crater in central Maui. The ticket is valid for 3 days and can therefore be combined for the visit of both highlights on Maui.
