The Best Time to Hike the Pīpīwai Trail

What time of day should you start?

Between eight and ten. The lot is small and it fills through the middle of the morning, and there is no overflow parking worth the walk, so an early arrival is the difference between starting your hike and circling.

Air temperature matters less here than humidity, and both are at their friendliest before eleven. The bamboo is also at its best in the morning, when the sun is high enough to come through the canopy in shafts but the grove is still holding the night's cool, and the whole thing knocks and creaks in the trade wind. By two in the afternoon the same stretch is warm, still, and full of mosquitoes.

The real argument for an early start is the buffer. Rain here builds through the afternoon far more often than it arrives in the morning, and a hike that starts at nine can absorb a wet hour, a slow group, or a long stop at the falls without anyone looking at a watch. A hike that starts at two cannot absorb anything.

What time of year is best?

April, May, and October, in that order. They sit on the hinge between the two seasons this district actually has, and they give you a waterfall worth the drive on a trail that is not a mudslide.

Everything else is a trade, and the trade never changes: the months with the most water in the falls are the months with the most mud underfoot and the least dependable weather. The wettest months here are Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Dec. The driest are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Kīpahulu is wet year round in a way that surprises people who spent the week in Kīhei, so there is no month where you should leave the rain layer in the car.

What is winter like on this trail?

Loud. Waimoku in February carries a volume of water that makes the summer version look like a different waterfall, and you feel the downdraft off it from well back in the boulder field. The stream under the bridge runs hard enough to drown conversation.

The cost is everything underfoot. Mud is heaviest in Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Dec, which means the stone steps hold water, the boardwalk stays wet from one day to the next, and the two crossings at 1.8 miles are the ones to watch. Winter is also the season for turning around: streams here rise from rain falling miles uphill in weather you cannot see from the trail. Crowds are high through the winter too, because that is when the island is full.

What is summer like?

Easy walking and a thinner waterfall. Flow runs light through Jul, Aug, Sep and mud is light from June onward, so the stone steps are grippier, the boardwalk dries between showers, and the crossings are a straightforward rock hop.

Nobody warns you about the other half of that. Makahiku Falls, the 200 foot drop you look at from the overlook at 0.5 miles, can be down to a trickle in a genuinely dry stretch, and it can be gone. Every photograph you have seen of it was taken at good flow. Waimoku almost always runs, because it drains a much larger catchment, but in August it is a ribbon down a wall rather than the wall of water in the pictures. If the falls are the whole reason you are driving past Hāna, go in the wetter half of the year and accept the mud.

Weekday or weekend?

Tuesday through Thursday, if the rest of your itinerary allows it. The Road to Hāna is a weekend activity for people staying on the island and a tour-bus activity every day, and the difference between a Wednesday and a Saturday at this trailhead is most visible in the parking lot and at the stream crossings, where a queue forms behind anyone picking their way slowly.

Crowds run heaviest in Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Dec. Even in those months, a weekday start before nine puts you ahead of most of the day's traffic, since a large share of visitors arrive here in the afternoon at the end of a long drive.

Should rain change your plans?

Usually not. This is a rainforest and a light shower is a normal condition rather than an event, and the bamboo is at its best when it is wet and moving. Bring a shell, expect to be damp, and go.

Heavy or sustained rain is different, and the rule is about the water rather than the sky. If either crossing at 1.8 miles is running fast or brown, turn around, and understand that the rain driving that water may be falling on the slopes above you while it is dry where you stand. Month by month detail on flow, mud, and what a forecast is worth here sits on the trail conditions page.

Questions

What is the best time to hike the Pipiwai Trail?

Start between 8 and 10am. You get parking, cooler and less humid air, morning light in the bamboo, and hours of buffer before afternoon rain and the 5pm gate.

What is the best month to hike the Pipiwai Trail?

April, May, or October. They balance good waterfall flow against moderate mud. Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Dec bring the strongest flow and the worst footing.

Is the Pipiwai Trail crowded?

Busiest in Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Dec and on weekends, and busiest in the early afternoon when Road to Hāna traffic arrives. A weekday start before nine avoids most of it.

Can you hike the Pipiwai Trail in the rain?

Yes, and light rain is normal here. Turn around if either stream crossing at 1.8 miles is running fast or brown, because that water comes from rain falling uphill and out of sight.

Is Waimoku Falls always flowing?

Almost always, but the volume swings hard. Flow is strong in Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec and light in Jul, Aug, Sep. Makahiku, the lower overlook, can drop to a trickle or dry up entirely in a dry spell.

What is the weather like on the Pipiwai Trail?

Warm, humid, and wet year round, with rain more likely to build in the afternoon than the morning. Dress for heat and rain in the same hour.