We just returned from our latest Maui trip June 19-26. This year our big excursion was the Hana Waterfall Hike through the bamboo forrest, which my wife had done with a previous boyfriend, and was new to me. I had previously driven the road to Hana just to see the 7 pools which was a long day. We debated driving outselves and doing the hike alone, but in the end elected to use the tour company Hike Maui. GREAT DECISION!!! There is a reason there are so many t-shirts for sale in the gift shops that read "I survived the road to Hana." It's a beautiful road, but a major PAI to drive. Almost guaranteed to make your passengers sick and really tire out the driver with all the concentration needed. Our tour guide with Hike Maui was Randy Michael. If you get the opportunity to request his tour you won't go wrong. I'm sure all the other guides are great, but I can only tell you about our trip. Three words best describe the difference of using this tour company....easy, entertaining, and educational. For easy, lets just say Randy was prepared for everything. He knows how to cheat the turns in the road to make the curves less severe to avoid car sickness. He knows where the best pit stops are for scenic bathroom breaks. Lunch and snacks were in my hands before I even realized I was hungry. For entertaining, lets just say Randy is a very fun character. His personality grows on you instantly. The 3 hour drive to Hana feels more like 1-1/2 hours. For education, let's just say....skip the luau and listen to Randy. I swear this guy is a walking and talking encyclopedia of Hawaiian culture and history. He kept appologizing for running on and on about the history in the car, but both of us were riveted to almost every word. We especially noted this fact when two days later we were eating dinner, and almost the entire dinner conversation was discussing Hawaiian history that we learned from Randy. And as we went to other tourist areas and read the plaques of historical facts..... "we learned that from Randy!" He really knows his stuff. Randy was also great on the trail. He knows every flower, tree and fruit, and we tried a lot of them. There were a lot of individual groups on the trail who braved the drive and hike themselves. The hike isn't very hard and safety wasn't an issue. But I can honestly say that those people made the long trek to see a beautiful 400 foot waterfall and bamboo forrest, but they really only saw 25% of it.








