A Horseback Riding experience by Triple L Ranch. Back to all Maui tours.
Tour Summary: On Saturdays, Triple L's lunch ride stops at a lookout over Kahoʻolawe for burgers made from the ranch's own Angus beef. Every ride crosses a working cattle ranch the De Ponte family has run since 1947.
Riders pause on the trail above the lava coastline below the ranch, with open ocean and a neighboring island behind them. 
The trail drops toward the ocean through open ranch pasture on Haleakalā's southwest slope. Riders head downhill toward the lava shoreline, where the weekday route stops at lookouts over the last lava flow on Maui. Guides take photos of riders along the way. Much of the ride crosses the ranch's open cattle pasture, dusty and windy on a dry day. Riders cross ranch pasture below a cinder cone on Haleakalā's southwest slope. A rider's view across the pasture, with the group strung out ahead on the trail.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Guides match each rider to a horse by riding experience and nervousness
- Hawaiian cowboy history told as you ride
- Groups of six riders or fewer
- Cows and calves in the nursery pasture at Piʻimoi cinder cone (weekday ride)
- Two lookouts over the last lava flow on Maui (weekday ride)
- Saturday lunch of ranch-raised beef burgers at a Kahoʻolawe lookout
Important: Riders are weighed at check-in and turned away over 210 lb, and bookings are non-refundable, so check every rider's weight before you book.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult |
|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $200 |
Price note: The Saturday lunch ride is a separate booking at $300 per person, and parties of six pay a minimum 10% gratuity.
Tour Provider: Triple L Ranch
Activity: Horseback Riding
Tour start time: 10:00 AM, Monday to Friday (2-hour ride); check-in 9:30 AM, 10:00 AM, Saturday (3.5-hour lunch ride); check-in 9:30 AM
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Upcountry Maui
Pick-up available? No
Included: Horse, saddle and riding helmet. Rain gear. Cold drinks and snacks. Photos taken by your guides. Lunch on the Saturday ride
Cancellations: Non-refundable. Triple L has a firm no-cancellation policy and advises travel insurance if you might need to cancel. Rides go out rain or shine. If the ranch cancels a ride for unsafe conditions, you're rescheduled or fully refunded; if a government travel ban or quarantine stops your trip, you get credit toward a future ride. You can also move to an open date for a 25% re-booking fee, or pass your ride to someone else.
Read more: about horseback riding in our Maui horseback riding guide.
About the ranch
On the weekday ride you head out to the nursery pasture at the base of Piʻimoi cinder cone to see Triple L’s Angus cows and calves, while the paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys) check water lines around you. The De Ponte family has raised cattle here, on Haleakalā’s southwest slope, since 1947, and every ride goes through the working pastures.
The weekday route continues past the ranch’s old well to two lookouts over the last lava flow on Maui. On a clear day you can see Hawaiʻi Island, Kahoʻolawe and Molokini. Riders may trot on even ground. The guides point out Hawaiian cultural sites on the way and take photos as you ride.
Why ride with Triple L: cattle country and ranch-beef burgers
The guides tell the ranch’s paniolo history as you ride through the herd’s pastures. Of the six Maui horseback operators we compared, Triple L is the only one that includes lunch on a ride: its Saturday burgers come from the ranch’s own grass-fed Angus. Guides match each rider to a horse by riding experience and nervousness. Groups are six riders at most.
Weekday 2-hour ride or Saturday lunch ride: which one to book
The Open Range ride runs Monday to Friday, lasts 2 hours and costs $200 per rider, with one price for every age. It covers the nursery pasture and the lava-flow lookouts, with cold drinks and snacks but no lunch. Book it if you can’t ride on a Saturday. On a Wednesday to Friday ride, we’d pre-order lunch from Bully’s Burgers, the ranch’s own burger stand. It opens at 12:30 pm, Wednesday to Sunday, and pre-orders need 30 minutes’ notice.
The All Inclusive Lunch ride runs Saturdays only, lasts 3.5 hours and costs $300 per rider. It starts on the backside of Haleakalā and crosses the ranch’s cattle country past Piʻimoi cinder cone to a lookout over Kahoʻolawe and Molokini. There the crew serves grilled Triple L beef burgers from Bully’s Burgers, with fruit and dessert. Tell the ranch about allergies or meal restrictions when you book.
At 3.5 hours, the Saturday ride is the longest offered by any of the six Maui horseback operators we compared. We’d book it if you can ride only once on Maui and want lunch on the ranch instead of a drive back to find one.
Weight limit, cancellation and the drive to the ranch
Riders are weighed at check-in. The limit is 210 lb with no exceptions, and the ranch may turn away riders with a BMI over 28 or in poor physical condition, because a horse should carry no more than 20% of its own body weight. Riders must be 8 or older (call the ranch about younger children). Wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, and sign the waiver online at least 24 hours before the ride.
Bookings are non-refundable and rides go out rain or shine, so the ranch advises travel insurance. You get a refund only if the ranch calls off a ride for unsafe conditions, and then you choose a new date or your money back. If a government travel ban or quarantine stops your trip, you get credit toward a future ride. You can also move to an open date for a 25% re-booking fee, or give your ride to someone else.
The ranch is at 18100 Piʻilani Highway in Kula, on Haleakalā’s southwest slope beyond ʻUlupalakua. Triple L puts the drive at about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes from Wailea. There’s no pickup. Check-in is 9:30 am for the 10:00 am start on both rides. A 2023 reviewer described the parking area as rocky and limited, with an outhouse as the only restroom. Bring a light jacket and reef-safe sunscreen; the ranch supplies rain gear.
We’d pick Triple L for the guides’ paniolo history and the Saturday burgers, and TripAdvisor reviewers praise those two most. Reviewers also describe well-kept horses, though three riders in 2025 and 2026 found theirs spirited. Tell the guides exactly how much riding you’ve done. Expect dust and wind on a rocky trail through scrub. There’s no beach riding on this route.
About Triple L Ranch
Louis De Ponte Sr. established Triple L Ranch in 1947 to raise purebred Angus with his son, Louis Jr., nicknamed Bully. Bully was a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) and champion bull rider who worked the ranch and the surrounding Kanaio land until he died in 2011. His wife, Paige De Ponte, now owns the ranch and runs it full-time.
Paige started the horseback tours in 2011 to help keep the grass-fed cattle operation going as taxes rose. The same year she and her son Zach opened Bully’s Burgers, a food truck just below the ranch that serves burgers from the ranch’s own free-range herd.
Every year the ranch holds a cattle round-up to count the herd and brand calves, and paniolo from around Maui come to help. In 2021 Paige founded The Spirit Horse Ranch, a nonprofit offering equine-assisted therapy for children, which the ranch says now also supports Maui fire survivors.
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