UPCOUNTRY - Maui: Including Molokai and Lanai - page 365

Horseback Riding and Bird-Watching
HORSEBACK RIDING
Makawao
Sprawling across 800 acres, Pi'iholo Ranch (808/270-8750, www.piiholo.com ,
8:30am-1pm Mon.-Sat.) is a working cattle operation set back in the pastures above
Makawao. One-hour ($75), two-hour ($120), and private rides are available for journeys
across open ranchland 2,000 feet up on the mountainside. Groups are capped at six people
and the one-hour and two-hour rides go at a mellow pace. Coffee is provided for the early
morning rides (8:30 and 9am), and every Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm there are free rop-
ing sessions open to the public to come and enjoy. To reach Pi'iholo Ranch go 1.5 miles
up Pi'iholo Road before branching left on to Waiahiwi Road. Follow this for 0.5 mile, and
the sign for the ranch will be on the left.
Kula
In addition to offering fairly standard—though enjoyable—rides across the pastureland
of Haleakala Ranch ($95-110), Pony Express (18303 Haleakala Hwy., 808/667-2200,
www.ponyexpresstour.com ) is the only operation on the island that takes you down inside
the crater on horseback. Saddling up from the 9,800-foot level near the summit, riders de-
part down Sliding Sands Trail before eventually reaching the crater floor over 2,500 ver-
tical feet below ($182). Over the course of this 7.5-mile, four-hour excursion, you're able
to descend into the backcountry of Haleakala National Park and a realm accessible only
by trail. It can be cold and breezy up here, but riding in the saddle as you crunch your
way across an otherworldly panorama of cinder is a riding experience unlike any other on
the island. In the days of the paniolo, before Haleakala was a national park, cowboys and
ranchers would ride all the way into the crater to round up wild cattle. Although cattle no
longer roam the barren moonscape, the time-sculpted theater still looks much the same as
it did when those early ranchers rode these same trails. The horses that make this run are
exceptionally well-trained and sure-footed, although you should have previous riding ex-
perience to take part in this tour.
Keokea and Ulupalakua
If you want the feeling that you're riding with a genuine ranching family in their scenic
backyard, then book an excursion with the folks at Thompson Ranch (Middle Rd., 808/