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Horseback riding in Hawaii! Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii at its best!, By Judy Worley

Horseback riding in Hawaii, is an awesome experience at the Kualoa Ranch! What could be more fun and exciting than riding a horse across beautiful pastures, wooded trails lined with beautiful tropical foliage?

Kualoa Ranch offers Horseback Riding and ATV (all terrain vehicles) rides with their Outdoor Activities. While riding along the wooded trails you are overlooking magnificent spectacular scenic views of valleys and the Pacific Ocean that are absolutely breathtaking. The Ranch also offers Narrated Ranch Tours and Package Tours. The property stretches for five miles along the coast and includes three mountains, two valleys and 4,000 acres. The ranch offers a variety of rides and tour packages so you may explore the vastly different areas of the ranch. 

Horseback Riding Trails

Horseback Trail Rides take you to where you can enjoy magnificent views of valley’s and the Pacific Ocean as you ride across different areas of their 4,000 acre cattle ranch! One and Two hours trail rides are available. The one hour trail ride takes you across pastures that have views of the ocean that are spectacular. The ride then takes you along some wooded trails to a scenic overlook above an 800 year old Hawaiian fishpond. Photo Credits: © Judy Worley, USA Travel Magazine

Trained Ranch Staff Make Tours A Memorable Experience

The two hour trail ride takes you into the Ka’a’awa Valley where Jurassic Park, Windtalkers, 50 First Dates and Lost were filmed. This ride is also filled with spectacular views and beauty with plenty of excitement and fun. While on your horseback trail ride, whether it is a one or two hour trail ride, you have the comfort of knowing you have a couple of the ranches trained staff members that stay with your group. Photo Credits: © Sue & Kavin Heath, USA Travel Magazine 

They are extremely informative and are very good with the horses and the safety of the riders. Trained Ranch staff members “Pris” and “Chezlani” were awesome. I want to send a my own personal “thank you” to the two ladies for doing a great job! I also want to say thanks to Denice for being so helpful with information upon our groups arrival. Good Job lady’s. The Ranch also has a ride for children less than 10 years old, they can enjoy having some fun on the “Keiki Rides”. This is a 5 minute horseback ride led by one of the ranches trained staff.

ATV Adventures

Driving ATV’s are fun, fun and more fun. It's an adventure out on trails deep into the awesome scenic valley’s and to really cool remote areas that are rarely visited by others. The ATV’s go out whether it is raining or the sun is shining. It is a lot of fun to go diggin through the dirt and crossing the seasonal streams and riding through the different trails. One and two hour rides are available. The one hour ATV ride takes you over a saddle trail to visit a movie set and you can explore a WWII bunker that is converted to an exhibit of Kualoa Ranch’s movie history. The history of movie’s that have been filmed here at Kualoa Ranch are very impressive.

The two hour ATV ride is for the more experienced riders. There is a lot more off road action and you get to go even deeper into the ranch’s secret spots. Along the rides you will experience magnificent beauty of the valley’s, mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

The Jungle Expedition Ride

On this Tour ride you will board your 6-wheel drive Swiss Pinzhauer and rumble along jungle trails and up the lush, remote Hakipu’u Valley for fantastic ocean and mountain views. This back-country adventure tour will maneuver through isolated stream beds, power up hills and tackle rough terrain going to secluded spots that overlook the dramatic windward coast line and an ancient Hawaiian fishpond.

The Movie Set Tour At Kualoa Ranch

This is their most popular tour! You get to ride the ranch buses for a really fun and delightful one hour narrated trip across Kualoa Ranch and into gorgeous Ka’a’awa valley to experience where many of Hollywood’s biggest movie’s and television shows were filmed. You get to see the Jurassic Park site, find Godzilla’s footprints, you also get to see the battleground of Windtalkers along with many other landmark locations. What would be really neat is if you get to see some actual filming in progress. And sometimes you really get to see the crews in action. While I was on the Island of Oahu, I got lucky. I got to see the production crews getting ready for a stunt for the Television series “Lost”. It was a really cool thing to see.

As they say “ You never know what you might see, while in Hawaii .” Also along the way you get to visit a WWII bunker that has been converted into a movie exhibit. If you are a Photographer, this is an absolutely magnificent place to go. The beauty and scenery is totally awesome beyond any words. During this tour you’ll learn about Kualoa Ranch, which is the oldest and the largest cattle ranch on Oahu. While on my horseback trail ride I got to see some of the cattle back in the wooded areas. It was neat to see. Their guides tell you some great stories of Hawaiian Legends and give you an insider’s peek at this fascinating family-owned property. The Ranch & Movie Set Tour is great for all ages and there are frequent departures throughout the day. Small children that can ride on your lap, get to ride for free.

The Historic Fishpond & Ocean Catamaran Tour

Kualoa Ranch owns one of the largest and most well preserved ancient fishponds in Hawaii. The fishpond is a huge 125-acre marvel, surrounded by tropical flowers, really pretty yellow flowering trees, fruit trees, and beautiful tropical foliage. The fishpond is nestled into one of the most beautiful ocean bays I have ever seen. The next part of the tour is a comfortable 49-passenger catamaran that takes you out into Kaneohe Bay for a closer look at the famed Mokoli’i (Chinaman’s Hat) Island. As you look at Mokoli’i Island sitting in the Pacific Ocean with waves crashing onto it’s rocks is quiet a beautiful sight to see.

Paliku Tours

In the ancient days, before Hawaii was discovered by white men, Kualoa was known as one of the most sacred places on the island of Oahu. The dramatic mountain was named Paliku. This tour, with it’s magnificent views of windward Oahu and the Pacific Ocean tells the history of Kualoa and how it became part of this amazing place we call Kualoa Ranch.

I really enjoyed my visit and had a lot of fun, a lot of excitement and saw spectacular beauty! Thanks Kualoa Ranch. Aloha!

 Above Photo Credits: © USA Travel Magazine, Judy Worley, Terry Girt, Sue & Kavin Heath

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