Mahaulepu Heritage Trail: Family Hike

I used to believe that I was the kind of person who went on vacation to lay on the beach and relax. Just sink my feet into the sand, soak in the hot sun and stare at the ocean. In the same spot, on repeat for days. Even typing it now I believe that about myself. And yet, my trips reflect a different kind of traveler. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I want to vacation one way and travel another. Those words, vacation and travel, are often used interchangeably but they really reflect different experiences. Lately our trips have naturally become true travels. I do find time to relax but I cannot travel without going out and seeking adventure.

As much as I anticipated beach time in Kauai, I was super excited to find a great hike for our family. We landed on Mahaulepu Heritage Trail.

The trail started for us at Shipwrecks Beach. There was a small parking area and after we lathered up in sunscreen we got going.

The path is easy to find if you head left (east) down the beach. Sometimes there are choices in the path but they all end up going the same place. We always chose the side closer to the ocean. There is a fun variety of some forest waking, climbing sand dunes, ocean side cliffs.

Despite the variety, a large portion of this hike is in direct sunlight. So, lightweight clothing, sunscreen and water are essential if it’s a sunny day. After scrambling over dunes and taking in sweeping views of the ocean you come to a nice tide pool area.

The path then hugs a golf course. It’s an incline but nothing drastic. The open ocean views were prime for whale watching (we saw one!) and sea turtles swimming in waves.

The trail finds it’s way to a horse ranch. You can keep going on to check out more beach and a sinkhole but we were all hot and tired so Rob (who peeled off after the tide pools) drove the car to the ranch to pick us up. I think if we had picked a cooler day we would’ve kept going.

The reward for our sweaty hike was a visit to Poipu beach where we met a new friend 🙂