On Walkabout On: Maha’ulepu Beach, Kauai

Basic Information

• Name: Maha’ulepu Beach
• Where: Kauai, Hawaii
• Distance: 10-12 miles round-trip
• More Info: KauaiExplorer.com

Narrative

One of my favorite activities whenever I am visiting Kauai is to get up early and go for a jog.  I mentioned my prior four mile course from the Sheraton Kauai Resort, but when I want to go on a much longer run I head for the beautiful Maha’ulepu Beach located on the isolated Kawailoa Bay:

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I estimate that the run is about 5-6 miles one way from the Sheraton and thus about a 10-12 mile run round-trip.  When I started the jog it was pitch black out as I ran east past all the various hotels and resorts located along Poipu Beach.  Eventually as I passed the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa the road I was running on turned to dirt and I could begin to see the sun rising in the early morning:

By the time I ran the estimated 5 miles to Maha’ulepu Beach the had risen enough that I could make out what was around me:

From the beach I began to follow the shoreline to the east and enjoy watching the sunrise in the distance:

I followed a trail that led farther to the east and was backdropped by an incredible sunrise:

Eventually I came to a clearing where I could see part of the Haupu Range make an appearance out of the clouds:

From the clearing I walked back towards the shore where I noticed that this section of the shoreline was extremely rugged:

Just a short way past this large outcropping in front of me is where the city of Lihue is located:

There was no swimming anywhere along this stretch of shoreline because of its ruggedness:

This was the closed thing to a beach on this section of the shoreline:

From the rocky coast I began to walk back towards Maha’ulepu Beach and noticed the clouds have cleared a little bit on the Haupu Range:

On my way back to the beach I noticed these cool looking flowers which I have no idea what they are called:

Something else I noticed as I walked back to the beach was a loud humming noise coming from these rocks:

The humming noise was coming from air being sucked out and then pushed back through holes in the rocky coastline.  When the tide would come back in it would also push water back through blowholes in the rock and spray it everywhere:

I had a really nice walk checking out the shoreline as I neared the beach:

Here is a look back at the rocky coast as it is backdropped by the rising sun:

I eventually found myself back at the beautiful Maha’ulepu Beach:

As I walked across the beach I noticed this beach just like everywhere else on Kauai was home to chickens:

Here is another look at the rising sun in the distance:

Here are some views of Mahaulepu Beach in the sunshine:

Mahaulepu Beach is home to endangered Hawaiian monk seals but I didn’t see any of them as I walked around the beach:

After hanging out at the beach for a while I began to jog back to the hotel.  The jog back was much more pleasant than the jog to the beach in the darkness because I could see the surrounding scenery:

As I jogged up the road I noticed that the farm fields around the road were part of the Mahaulepu Agricultural Park:

This farm land is part of Grove Farm that specializes in growing organic food products for the islands:

As I jogged further up the road I had an even nicer view of the Haupu Range:

I also had a nice view of what appeared to be a volcanic cinder cone:

Here is one last picture of the Haupu Range:

Soon I exited the farmland and ran by the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and its Poipu Bay Golf Course which has been home to a number of PGA tournaments:

As I began to run by the resort area on Poipu Beach I took this one last picture of this large volcanic crater that looms over the eastern part of Poipu:

Conclusion

For anyone thinking of visiting Mahaulepu Beach you don’t have to do what I did and jog to it to experience this beautiful beach.  The dirt road to the beach can be reached by a high clearance vehicle.  I would not recommend someone to drive a low clearance vehicle to the beach because there are some very large holes in the road that I doubt the car rental companies would reimburse anyone for damaging one of their cars on.  However you get to the beach I am sure you are going to enjoy this hidden Kauai gem.