Beautiful just absolutely beautiful serene and epic views. The drive is somewhat challenging but worth it.

Nice trails with lots of shade. Can be as challenging or as chill as desired. Lots of space to explore, but is off grid so make sure you know how to get back to your car. read more

First, you will need a 4x4 vehicle like a Jeep to get to the Polipoli Springs State Recreation Area, as the windy paved road leading up to the entrance eventually turns into a dirt road and you will be given a citation if you try to bring in any other type of vehicle past that entrance point. Ideally you should try to go on a day when the weather is not so rainy and the dirt road is not too muddy. Though quite often, at 6,500 feet in elevation, the clouds start rolling in and fogging up the forest and recreation area, so it can be hard to see ahead. There are some parking spots available at the camping grounds...follow the signs to the recreation area. For the hike, there are several trails as you will see on the large sign posted nearby; some of them loop around. Nice trees and plants throughout the trails. You will start off with the Polipoli Trail that eventually leads to the Haleakala Ridge Trail. I went in the direction that leads downhill and then to the Plum Trail. Next, the Plum Trail leads to a redwood forest, which is very nice, but can be rather scary and creepy at times with all the fog and clouds leading to lower visibility. Even with the ribbon ties around certain branches and points, the Redwood Trail was absolutely confusing and not marked at all. It could cause anyone or any group to get lost, and that would be a suggestion to the State of Hawaii to mark the trails better. I ended up turning around and going back the way I entered via the campgrounds. Polipoli Springs State Recreation Area is a nice place to get away from the crowds and urban neighborhoods, though this may not be a place I would come back to. read more

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Less busy then Haleakala Nation Park at a lower elevation several well marked trails make for relaxing and interesting hikes on Haleakala mountain can be cloudy and rain unexpectedly bring rain coat no water no bathrooms. The drive is windy road and younger drivers can be aggressive do not park your car past the 4wd area you chance a ticket. parasailers can be lunching into the sky's mostly in the mornings. Worth a visit read more

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The drive up to Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area is not for the faint of heart. I made the road to Hana - northern and southern routes - the day before, and this was significantly worse. The first part of the drive up Waipoli Road is not bad - it is actually a quite beautiful and scenic switchback drive up a paved, asphalt road through a beautiful alpine meadow that is used as grazing land for cattle. The views are spectacular as you climb higher and higher. Above the meadow is a dense forest. Hunting pheasant, goat and wild boar is allowed up here. As you drive further, the road gets progressively worse. Eventually, the pavement gives way to dirt - and the dirt gives way to larger and larger potholes. There are a number of hiking trails up here - through groves of redwood and other trees, that are apparently non-native and first planted about 80 years ago. The elevation up on the road is about 6000 feet - and at the cloud level - so it is very humid, like a rainforest. You can hike trails through the trees - and then hike up above the tree line up Skyline trail toward the summit of Mt Haleakela. This is an alternate hiking route up to the National Park. We made the hike from Polipoli about half way up to the summit - and had a great time. There are great views above the clouds to the summits on the Big Island. There are some cinder cones accessible from the trail on the way up towards the summit of Haleakela. There were alot of bike tracks - as I guess some people drive up to Haleakela through the national park, and then descend on Mt. Bikes on the trails into Polipoli. All in all, we had a nice hike - and enjoyed seeing some of the "upcountry" of Maui. read more

Mr. Ted summed it up quite good!!! I love seeing the young Red Woods which brings me back to the Roaring Camp train ride we took with the kiddies in California. The ddress here says Kekaulike Road, it's actually off Hwy 37 on Wailpoli Road. While it's heavenly, it is also quite creepy at the same time! We were the only ones driving up as you get closer to the 6,000 feet pot-holey-road. We're not hunters, so we were creeped out by all the off season hunting signs. Have you watched Hogs Gone Wild on the Discovery Channel? I can just picture the three of us hiking and out comes a family of boars charging straight for us!!! Those things are huge! Yeah, we wimped out and decided to go to the winery sooner. read more

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If you read something that tells you to go early to avoid the clouds, listen! We got a late start and were socked in by clouds the entire hike. Supposedly the views down to the coast are phenomenal, but we couldn't see anything. The road up is narrow and all dirt past a certain point. (Yes, you need 4 wheel drive, or at least something with some clearance.) Before that, you can see people paragliding off the side of the mountain as you're driving up. The redwood forest is really neat, and was almost creepy with all the fog. You'll find the bunk house for the Rangers here. Then out of nowhere you'll come into an overgrown hydrangea garden, then right back into redwoods. The last half of the hike is more tropical and uphill. This is where the views off the mountain are, but like I said, unfortunatly we couldn't see them. Overall, it's a pretty cool hike on Maui if you can reach it. read more

Polipoli Springs State Recreation Area - Map of the area. Take a picture with your phone to have on the trail. - Parks Near Me

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We just did the short Polipoli trail (1.2 miles roundtrip) at the Polipoli Springs Rec Area and it was really nice. You'll see a lot of signs on the way telling you that you need 4WD but you don't IF you're experienced off-roading and/or the weather's been good so not too much mud. As for the hike we heard and saw a lot of beautiful forest birds which we didn't expect and that made the hike extra nice. There's not much views on this section of the trail so you'd probably be better off going to some of the connecting trails. We saw a lot of berries and mushrooms on the trail and heard a lot of bees buzzing around. You can really feel far away from civilization in this park. BTW, even if it's sunny you can still get cold in the forest so wear appropriate clothing. read more

It's a but of a drive but well worth it. There's some incredibly stunning views from the cutbacks as you drive up the mountain. I'm originally from the mountains of north central WA State so I was in heaven on the mountain and in the redwood forest! Once you're amongst then redwoods all things are great! The forest is nearly silent as you walk through the trees! Get up, get out and LIVE!!! read more

Wide open spaces... great view of the islands and the pinch... It's simply amazing! Friendly people with really great air crafts and experience and spirit of aloha. There's a store near to grab food after (or before) oh. Did I mention how beautiful it all is? read more

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Better have a gps or phone with maps because hawaiins have zero concept of signage or anything. Tight paved road for several miles, multi switchbacks. Still no signage. Leads to a dirt road that is normal for a km until a gate. Advisable to have 4x4 beyond that although its not tough, just bumpy. Finally a road right leads down to s recreation parking lot with 3 picnic tables and signs for day trip nature walk hikes. Alot of downed trees. Zero signage, tAke your gps or equivalent. No one we spoke with ever saw anything resembling "springs". Neither did we. Wouldn't advise this unless you're adventurous, and don't care about the end result. read more

We made it to the parking lot with no issue. We were in a 2WD Jeep Compass and it was more than capable at handling the rutty road. There was also a Nissan Versa up in the parking lot, although I would not recommend taking a small compact car up there. Our main issue was that we lost the trail! We wanted to take the Redwood trail down, and use the plum trail to get back up. However, upon entering the forest and beginning the descent, it was not clear at all where the trail was going. Nothing is marked and there are a ton of tree roots everywhere, making it quite unclear where you're supposed to be going. With hunters out there firing at wild boar, and no desire to get lost, we turned back after about a half mile. We went back up and took the well marked Poli Poli trail, which was fine although a bit short. Overall, we were disappointed given the investment to get up to the parking lot. They need to mark the trails better. read more

this was a disappointment for us. Despite our using 2 guidebooks, neither warned us that the last 3 miles of the road to Polipoli Springs is only for 4 wheel drive vehicles. I'd have chanced it, but the sign said "violators will be prosecuted". So we walked the 3 miles to get to the entrance, by which time we didn't really feel like any kind of major hike. It was quiet and peaceful, (and not very tropical looking), and some of the birds were interesting, but the need to abandon the car so far from the entrance kind of killed it for us. read more

All I'm going to Say is...Disc Golf!!! WOOHOO!! I was so excited to learn about this disc golf course. Its just up the switch back road from the lavender farm. You cant miss it. Park at the tree line and your there! Note: watch for cows and cow dung. lol Great course!! Thanks go out to Alan from Maui dga !!! read more