The King’s Trail was a footpath built in pre-contact Hawai’i for the ali’i (royalty) and royal messengers – primarily so that the king could survey his lands. Some historians believe the King’s Trail circumscribed the entire island of Maui, while others say it may have covered half that coastal distance – either way it was a significant accomplishment for the time. Believed to have been begun by King Kahekili, it was completed around 1550 by King Pi’ilani – the latter king’s name is memorialized in the two main highway names for South and West Maui. Much of the original trail has disappeared over the hundreds of years, but some fragments remain and have been restored.