Parking
Use the public parking at D.T. Fleming Beach Park, then follow the access road past the preschool to the Mahana Ridge trailhead. Pine Loop is about 3.1 miles up the ridge; there is no separate parking at the grove.
Overview
About Pine Loop
Why go
- A shaded Cook Island pine grove makes a distinctive stop.
- A short, memorable detour if you are already hiking Mahana Ridge.
Heads up
- About three uphill miles of access each way from D.T. Fleming.
- Published loop-only mileage and the complete mapped circuit disagree.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the West Maui Scenic Drive map
Full mapElevation36–1,181 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active West Maui Scenic Drive alert
- CautionWest Maui daytime lane closures on Routes 30 and 340, Oct. 26–30Expect daytime single-lane closures on Route 30 near Honokōhau and Route 340 between Waiehu and Waiheʻe on scheduled weekdays Oct. 26–30; follow traffic control and allow for alternating traffic.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
West Maui Scenic Drive Tour Guide
Your drive to Pine Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for West Maui Scenic Drive. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the West Maui Scenic Drive audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
D.T. Fleming: Beach, Burgers and Ridge Walk0:00 / 0:33
“You’re coming up on D.T. Fleming Beach Park, a long sandy shore backed by ironwood trees. I’d choose it for a beach walk or a break in the shade.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf West Maui Scenic Drive Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Dragon’s Teeth and Honokahua
- Kapalua Village: The Cardio Loop
- Oneloa Beach: A Shore Walk at Ironwoods
- Mokulēʻia Bay: The Beach Below the Cliffs
- 65 audio storiesacross West Maui Scenic Drive’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Humpback Whale, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Spinner Dolphin, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 28 trails, 54 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Pine Loop
A short loop with a long approachPine Loop is a small circuit through a grove of Cook Island pines on Mahana Ridge.
Pine Loop is a small circuit through a grove of Cook Island pines on Mahana Ridge. From the public D.T. Fleming Beach access, treat it as a roughly 6.3-mile out-and-back, with the grove loop included; the detour lies about 3.1 miles uphill. Allow around four hours. The approach does most of the work, so this makes more sense as a Mahana Ridge hike than as a quick roadside stroll.
The Cook pinesThe detour winds through a dense grove of tall Cook Island pines.
The detour winds through a dense grove of tall Cook Island pines. They were planted here long ago and have since naturalized, making this shaded patch feel very different from the more open ridge. The loop-only distance is listed as 0.10 mile, but the complete mapped circuit measures about 0.19 mile; treat the small-loop figure as approximate.
Access and rulesUse the public trail entrance across from D.T.
Use the public trail entrance across from D.T. Fleming Beach Park, then follow the access road past the preschool to the Mahana Ridge trailhead. Pine Loop branches off about 3.1 miles in, and you return along the same ridge route. Dogs are not allowed on these ridge trails.
Wildlife
Wildlife in West Maui Scenic Drive
152 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
71 sightingsHawaiian Monk SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
23 sightingsSpinner DolphinMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
401 sightingsGreen Sea TurtleMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
14 sightingsHawksbill Sea TurtleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
92 sightingsWedge-tailed ShearwaterMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across West Maui Scenic Drive. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
