Difficulty: BEGINNER
Time: 1-1.5 HOURS
Distance: 1.5 MILES
Elevation Gain: 300 FEET
Foot Traffic: HIGH (lower at Upper Falls)
Challenges: Potentially muddy, Stream Crossings
Sights: The Falls!
What to Bring: Swimsuit and towel
A popular first stop on Maui's Road to Hana, this hike is a great taste of what is likely to be a day full of beautiful scenery and waterfalls. This location has a lot of little treats, including multiple swimming holes and even some roadside refreshments. But it's the waterfall known as Caveman, tucked back in the forest, that really shows the magic of Hana.
After a two and a half year gap, I was finally making my way back to the Valley Isle of Maui. Maui was the very first island hopping trip I'd taken, and after that, I was hooked. For some reason, however, my adventures had not brought me back to Maui. I was excited for my opportunity to revisit this place and see if it still had that Maui Magic I experienced the first time. After an early flight over, my friend Indre and I grabbed our bags, picked up the rental car, and sped off to our first adventure of the trip--the Twin Falls hike on the Road to Hana.
The hike starts at mile marker 2, of Hana Highway about 20 minutes from the town of Paia. Don't worry, it will be easy to spot... just look for all the cars. There is a dirt parking lot, but there's also some space off the highway if the lot is full. Unless you get here early, expect crowds. Being one of the first stops on Hana, all the tourists are still full of energy. The trail itself is simple, just follow the path away from the road
Right at the beginning of the hike was this nice little bamboo tree. Great spot for a photo. One thing about Hana, the foliage will not disappoint. It is lush thanks to all the rain on this part of the island.
Mere minutes into the hike, you will see a few waterfalls off to the left. These falls are technically the Twins (there is an upper and lower falls) and are all part of the hike. In my opinion, they are pleasant, but slightly underwhelming as far as waterfalls go. They do, however, have a nice swimming hole. That they also serve as, is a great tourist filter. The majority of the people who visit will make this the turnaround point.
But if you are feeling a bit more adventurous, you can continue on to the waterfall known as The Caveman. After continuing on the path, you will run into this sign. It looks uninviting at first glance, but it's just giving you a heads up the trail gets slightly more difficult past this point. "Experienced" really just means that you will have to do a couple stream crossings and you may have to deal with mud. Overall, it's not bad. A big caveat is that during or after a strong rain, this whole area would get much more challenging. But for us, it had been relatively dry, so no major issues.
On to the other side of the gate. The foliage here was much more dense and gave a bit more of those wild vibes. The path here is straight forward, but you will see numerous offshoots. These paths are private property and will be marked as such. Despite what AllTrails says, you do not have to cross any Private Property to reach The Caveman.
Ah there's one of those stream crossings we were talking about. Pretty low flow today.
But that doesn't mean we wanted to get our feet wet. Indre using the rocks to cross some of the deeper parts.
Deeper and deeper into the jungle we go.
25 minutes into the trail we got our first glimpse of the falls. How about a closer look?
And there it is. Ok ok, the flow is pretty mediocre I won't lie. But hey at least you can see those two separate flows.
And even though conditions weren't ideal, there was something so unique about this location. Those vines, that dense green, and the smooth flow all coupled with the cave backdrop made this different than most waterfalls I'd seen on the island. Guess that's why it get its own nickname.
There was something magical about this little place. And as Indre and I would learn, Maui had quite a bit more magic in store for us.
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Also Check Out:
- This video about how to get to all the falls
- World of Waterfalls writeup about Twin Falls
