Overview
Maulin isn’t the biggest hill in the Wicklow Mountains or the most striking, but it has one trick the others don’t: from its slopes you look down onto Powerscourt Waterfall. At 570 m the summit sits at the mouth of the Glensoulan valley, off the main spine of the range, and the walk up crosses Ride Rock – a shelf that stares straight across at the 121 m falls, Ireland’s highest, dropping down the far cliff. That’s the reason to pick Maulin over a dozen neighbours.
The usual route is the Crone Woods – Maulin Mountain Loop, 6.6 km with about 350 m of climb, from the car park near Enniskerry. Forest track for the first stretch, then open heath and a steep final pull, with the Great Sugar Loaf, Glencree and – on a clear day – Dublin Bay opening up as you go.
The walk
The loop is waymarked with red discs carrying a footprint symbol. The first half is an easy gravel track through Crone Woods, a Sitka spruce plantation now managed by Coillte – fine in trainers, and popular with families. Watch the forest junctions, though: walkers regularly report markers missing where the tracks fork, so keep the map handy.
Out of the trees the character changes. The path climbs the open slope in a series of steep hairpins, and the last pull to the cairn is the hardest part of the day – short, but it makes you earn it. There’s a brief overlap with the Wicklow Way on the approach before the loop peels off for the top; the descent runs on clear gravel paths back through the woods.
Summit views
The summit cairn gives a 360-degree sweep that shifts with the season and the light.
- Powerscourt Waterfall: the headline. From up here the 121 m cascade is framed by the valley walls, a view you can’t get from the car park at its foot.
- The Great Sugar Loaf: its cone anchors the horizon to the west.
- Dublin Bay: on a clear day the city and the bay lie to the north, a reminder of how close all this is to town.
- Glencree valley: stretching below, leading the eye towards the rougher central peaks.
History and landscape
The Irish name, Málainn, means “high or sloping ground”, which about covers it. The hill is built of the dark blue-grey slate, phyllite and schist of the Wicklow range, breaking through the heather on the exposed top; it’s a low-prominence summit (70 m), well down the Arderin list rather than a peak-baggers’ prize. The lower slopes are Crone Woods, a mid-20th-century conifer plantation with buzzards over it. These quiet valleys had another use within living memory: during the War of Independence, the folds of country around here made handy cover for rebel columns.
Practical information
- Parking: the Crone Woods car park is the catch. It’s small, it charges a few euro, and it fills fast at weekends and on bank holidays – aim to arrive before 10am.
- Public transport: Dublin Bus route 44 runs from the city to Enniskerry, but the trailhead is a further 5 km or so from the village – a long walk or a short taxi from there.
- Duration & difficulty: allow 2 to 2.5 hours. It’s graded strenuous for the steep finish, though the distance is modest; about 350 m of ascent overall.
- Dogs: welcome on the loop, on a lead.
- Best time to visit: late May for the heath greening up, late October for the gold and amber. The summit is windier and colder than the valley – carry a windproof year-round.
- Navigation: waymarked, but hill weather turns fast; bring the OSi Discovery sheet 56 or a charged phone with GPS.
Nearby
- Enniskerry: cafés and pubs a short way from the car park, the standard post-walk stop.
- Knockree: the An Óige hostel sits at the foot of Maulin on the Wicklow Way, handy if you’re stringing walks together.
- Djouce Mountain: link it in from the tops for a longer, tougher day around the Glensoulan peaks.
Get to Crone Woods early for a space, take in Ride Rock’s view over Powerscourt Waterfall on the way up, and you’ll have the best angle on the falls in the county before you’ve even reached the summit.