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My friend and I where customers of Hike Maui on June 21, 2008. The hike was excellent!! Moreover, we had the pleasure of having Tony as our tour leader. He was the best! He had such a vast knowledge of the history, botany, geology, and local customs of the Island. In addition, his friendly and outgoing personality made the hike that much more enjoyable. He was able to customize it for our interests, and make the experience extremely "hands-on:" allowing us to use our sight, hearing, touch, and even taste. We got to swim in the waterfall pools, see great views, and learn many interesting facts about the island.

We will never forget the tour or Tony.

Best Regards,

Andrew

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.

I went on the all day hike. The hike was great, the guide was top notch. My issue is that after meeting at 7am to head out to the trailhead, we did not arrive until 11:30am. So, it's almost as much driving/riding as hiking. You can drive to Hana yourself and hike the same trail. You won't get the knowlege of the guide, but I would really consider it.

We have been coming to the islands every year or two for the past 26 years. This year on Maui was tough because there has been so much development and the Aloha seemed lacking compared to the past. Renee (our Hike Maui guide) made our vacation. She was the embodiment of Aloha, with her stories and her charm, always happy to take photos of the hikers. We loved our West Maui hike, standing in the waterfalls, swimming in the pools, and sliding down the natural rock slide, with no one in sight but our select group of 12. Renee was very easy to hike with, really the perfect guide, showing us easy handholds for climbing, strawberry guavas to sample, a nest in a tree which we would have missed, and all the special memories of the day, which were enhanced by her graciousness. It was great to have backpacks, water, no-slip wading shoes & pineapple provided at the start of the hike. We have hiked with this company before and once again it was a wonderful experience. We will of course recommend HikeMaui to our friends.