waipio valley
 

We want to explore waipio valley but cannot take the horse tours as my wife is pregnant. Can we hike to to the valley? Some posts say you can just park and walk a short trail down, but others say it is dangerous and the only way is using a 4WD. What do you recommend?

Also, what can we actually do there, is it just a beach, or can we hike there?

We enjoyed the Waipio Valley Shuttle Tour:
www.islandsource.com/adventure/adventure6.htm

The trail down is the road which is very, very steep but not long. I would not want to walk down it much less back up. It is dangerous to try to drive two wheel drive vehicles down because it is soooo steep.
In the valley, there is a beach, there is a river, there are usually waterfalls flowing at the back of the valley, there are taro patches, there are a few dwellings, there are lots and lots of foliage, trees, flowers.

Thanks for the info. I'm planning a trip for Christmas break and last time we only made it to the overlook. Would you pick 4x4 over the wagon tour? The wagon tour is the same amount of time but more money, I believe.

As martym said, it is really really steep! We did the wagon tour last month and had great fun. You go up/down in an old van, ride in the mule drawn wagon wide open on all sides down in the gorgeous valley.

http://www.waipiovalleywagontours.com/

Joshpal, the ride was bumpy on a dirt road and went thru streams, not sure if it would be right for your wife.

I went to Waipio Valley many years ago...long before there were tours. Does anyone know if you can still hike into Waipio Valley? There used to be a trail that took you through many valleys etc...not a difficult hike and was probably only 10 miles long or so.

Ok, how pregnant is your wife? This does not sound like too much fun for a pregnant woman, esp. if she is going to be squashed into a seat.
We hiked down to the Waipio Valley a few years ago and it is steeeep. Coming back up was hard on the knees and I'm im my 30's. My friend nearly hyperventilated.

It is beautiful but with all the other things you could do maybe you should opt for something else at this time. Akaka Falls park is beautiful but not at the beach.

My wife will be four moths pregnant.
Lot's of people say it is really nice so we don't want to miss this.
Is there any option for going down this road other than an organized tour or walking? BTW, what is exactly this wagon-tour? Do you decide when you go down and when you return?

I did the horseback tour years ago. They picked us up in a jeep at the top near the lookout and told us the road going down into the valley is the steepest recorded state highway in the entire USA. It is very steep. I wouldn't recommend the hike down & back up for anyone pregnant. Christmas time--the place might be muddy at that time of the year, or worse, flooded. The lookout is free and quite spectacular. I'd save the hike for Akaka Falls where the hike is on level ground.

We hiked down as my husband decided he'd prefer not to drive! We walked to the beach and also in the opposite direction, into the valley to where we had a good view of the waterfalls but you could hike much further. The hike back up was hard on the knees which was not a problem for our teenage son and DD (7 at the time) but we took it slowly.
It would be very tough to hike up that steep hill pregnant.
Just view from the overlook and maybe take a gentler hike elsewhere.

Joshpal, the only other way you can get down there is to get a local with a four-wheel drive to take you. Even if you rent a four wheel drive, at least some rental car contracts do allow travel down that road. And after riding down the road--which is basically one-lane--with a friend who lives there in her four wheel drive and who had done the drive many time, I know would be frightened to drive down.

Ok, I think I got the message, my wife is not up to this hike. Do you think we can instead take the shuttle tours that take you down there? If that's so nice I don't care to pay 50$ for that, as long as it is safe.

BTW, if this road is so steep, how do the horses/wagons go down?

They don't--the tour people take you down in a van and you meet the wagon there. We did this tour a few years ago and the wagon ride was very gentle. There was one spot where the mule and horse had to pull the wagon through the river (not deep) that was briefly bouncy. Our guide was a man whole actually lived in the valley. He was very entertaining and informative.

The Waipio Valley Shuttle Tour we took was driven by a previous resident of the Valley and used a specially equipped 4 Wheel Drive van that navigated through streams of water. The views of waterfalls were distant and one of the streams was too deep for even the locals to cross due to recent((R))((R)). We did not reach a beach on the tour and no one got on or off the "shuttle", even though some folks #o hiking out looked like they could have used a ride.:S-

I did some more reading and it seems like the polulu valley is roughly the same as waipio, but much easier to access. Is that the case?

Joshpal,

Here is a link to Pololu Valley:

http://www.hawaiitrails.org/trail.as...;island=Hawaii

You can navigate at this site to find out about other trails.

Pololu is a lot more accessible than Waipio due to being less steep. However, it is still 420' drop. Use caution and hiking/trekking pole to help balancing yourself going down. Normally, you don't even need the poles, and it's an easy hike. But in her case, trekking poles is helpful. Personally, I think it's steep and risky when she is pregnant.

Yep, the Polulu hike is also unsuitable for a pregnant woman. The descent is staggered but the ascent would be too strenuous unless taken very slowly. You can walk down part way and get great views of the beach but be aware that the ground is not level.

I think Waipio valley is much more beautiful than Polulu. We drove down in our rented 4 wheel drive. My husband said he was pretty tough drive, but from my passanger seat it wasn't too bad. I loved having the car beacause we could explore at our leisure, we literally had to get out and push the herd of horses out of the way. We lingered at the gorgous black sand
beach for a while. Very memorable. I'm pretty sure you're not covered by insurance for off road trips like that in a rental car, but we took a chance.