Visiting the Red Sand Beach

Where in the world is the Red Sand Beach? It used to be extremely difficult to find. The directions from Fodor’s Guide Book give you hints such as, “past the baseball field,” “walk through the grass lot to the trail below the cemetery,” “do not walk in the cemetery.” Now, there is actually a sign posted pointing to the trail, as well as a warning sign about the hazardous condition of the trail.

The trail is hazardous, it is very narrow in parts, with a steep drop to the ocean. There is constant erosion occurring and at some point, it seems likely it will be impossible to get to the beach. As always, I will post pictures of the trail, so you know what you are in for, should you decide to give it a try.

But first, I must rave about our fantastic lunch and the amazingly kind and trusting owners of Huli Huli Chicken food truck. We had spent the morning at Ohe’o Gulch and hiking the Pipiwai Trail and were absolutely starving, so we doubtfully entered the address of the food truck, hoping that our GPS wouldn’t lose the signal, to try and find the food truck that I had read fabulous reviews about. We entered 175 Haneoo Rd. and we drove down some very isolated, country roads and, happily, right to their location.

They are located on Koki Beach, which is a lovely little red and black sand beach. They have picnic tables right at the water’s edge and you sit in the shade, just a few feet from the ocean and savor the delicious, fresh food.

I took this picture from our picnic table. I would not say that this is a swimming beach, more of an enjoy the view while you are feasting beach. They only take cash here, so be prepared. I was knowledgeable of this fact and told my husband that we would need cash before we left for our hike in the morning. After we ordered our food and my husband realized they only took cash he sheepishly told me he only grabbed $10 and left everything else in the condo. Our whole meal was only $14, so we were taking drinks off our order and trying to make sure we came in under $10 so we could leave a tip, when the owner came over to see what was going on. We told her we left our cash in the condo and we were thinking about driving back to get enough money to order what we wanted instead of splitting lunch. She asked where we were staying, and we told her Hana Kai Maui Condos. She said, “That’s only 10 minutes away. Order what you want, pay me later.” I said, “Are you sure?” She said, “Absolutely.” We were going to leave our drinks off because we felt bad and she insisted that we order everything we wanted. We told her to take the $10 and we would come back with the rest. The food was delicious! So fresh! Fantastic prices, generous portions and the view was simply perfect. As soon as we finished we headed back to the condo, grabbed more money, went back and paid her well more than we owed her. It was so nice to be the recipient of a stranger’s kindness and trust.

The sand on Koki beach is full of pebbles, so it’s best to keep your sandals on while on the beach…unless you like “Ow“ing every time you take a step, but the color is amazing. This was the first red sand beach I had ever seen in person and I was very excited to get back in the car and try to find the secretive Red Sand Beach, technically Kaihalulu Beach, all the guide books rave about.

We drove back to the main area of Hana, easily found the baseball field and community center, and were looking for a place to park along the road. We drove down a dead-end street which had street parking and saw a state sign pointing out the Red Sand Beach. I said, “That’s funny, that must be new. This is supposed to be hard to find.” My guess is that they have had so many tourists wandering around trying to find it that they just decided to put up a sign to keep people from wandering through people’s private property.

The beginning of the trail is not bad, it gets narrower and steeper once you can see the beach. It takes less than 10 minutes to get from the street to the beach. Despite all of the warning signs, there were at least 20 other people there when we arrived. The first glimpse you get of the cove is breathtaking!

This picture is a little deceptive, the water area in the cove is bigger than it appears and gets deep quickly. You can swim here. By the time we made it down the trail, everyone was leaving the cove.

The contrast of the turquoise color of the ocean against the red sand was spectacular! I’ve never seen anything like it. I was captivated by all of the rich and vibrant colors.

This picture gives you a better idea of the size of the cove. The first fourth of the beach has a lot of rocks and pebbles. I took my shoes off too soon and was “OW“ing my way down the beach. The sand gets finer farther down the beach and closer to the shoreline. I thought the water was too cold to swim but my husband practically ran in. There was no way he wasn’t going to swim here. He had the water all to himself and was happily swimming around trying to lure me out.

We decided to head back up the trail before dusk, as we did not want to be navigating this trail in the dark.

This is the worst part of the trail. We took this picture while leaving the beach, heading back up the side of the cliff to the street where we parked. I’m really not sure what the yellow nylon rope is supposed to do for you. It’s a foot or so off the ground, maybe if you slip, it is your only chance of not falling into the ocean.

This is again near the end of the trail, lots of rocks and roots jutting out of the narrow trail. If you are an optimist you would see these as places to use to stabilize yourself as you are stepping down. If you are a pessimist (or maybe a realist) you would see these as things to trip over which will send you plummeting down the trail and possibly into the ocean. On the way down, I fell into the pessimist/realist camp, on the way up I took the optimist’s perspective. I would have liked to have brought my walking sticks with me on this hike but we left them, with our money, in the condo.

The only thing I would do differently, beyond bringing the walking sticks, is to perhaps visit it during a different time of day. We were there around dinner time, which was nice because everyone was leaving, but I think during the day I would have been able to capture the colors of the cove and sand better. If we would have spent more time in Hana, I am sure we would have returned for another visit. I do recommend visiting the cove, but only if you are a sure footed hiker. The pictures of the trail are a very accurate representation of what you will be facing.

We finished our night off by having mai tais on the lanai of our condo at the Hana Kai Maui while watching the sun set; a perfect ending to our stay in Hana. The next morning we packed up and headed back up the Road to Hana and visited the Garden of Eden Arboretum and got our first glimpse of Haleakala at Haleakala National Park.

As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available as Fine Art Prints and Digital Downloads at full resolution for purchase through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure  the image is available.)

More Beaches!

Anini Beach in Kauai

Poipu Beach in Kauai

Green Sand Beach in Hawaii

Hapuna Beach in Hawaii

Napili and Kapalua Beaches in Maui

 

                                                               Pin for later!