The Road to Hana... is Paved With Waterfalls

Besides sunrise over Haleakala, I also missed driving the road to Hana on previous trips to Maui. The first time I was here, the road was still a poorly graded dirt road which was so difficult to drive that people made a living off of selling "I survived the road to Hana" t-shirts. On subsequent trips, it just wasn't something that we made time to do because the drive takes an entire day. Although the distance from Kahului to Hana is only about 52 miles, the road is very curvy with dozens of one lane bridges so it takes at least 3 hours to drive one way - not counting all of the things to stop and gawk at along the way.

Now we had time and my curiosity, having already been piqued, we decided to do it. Fortunately, we didn't have to leave quite so early in the morning as we did for the trip up to Haleakala and were able to go at a more leisurely pace. Once past Kahului, we started on the Hana Highway. Our first stop, at about 10.5 miles and in between Kahului and the Keanae peninsula, was the "Garden of Eden", a botanical garden and our first walk of the day. We roamed the trails here looking at beautiful tropical flowers, Keopuka Rock (which was featured in the opening scenes of Jurassic Park, and Puohokamoa Fall.

A short distance further, around Mile Marker 12, we reached the Keanae Peninsula. The views here are incredible, and we found a spot to pull over so we could gawk and take photographs of the high surf hitting against the black aa. This peninsula was created by massive lava flows from Haleakala crater. There was a small village located here, which is now much smaller due to the tsunami that hit here on April 1, 1946, killing 24 people. The only building to survive was the Congregational church, still standing. Besides beautiful views of the surf, we also saw many lush taro fields.

Our next stop was halfway between mile markers 19 and 20, at the beautiful Waikani Falls, also known as Three Bears Falls. We stopped by the side of the road, to view the lower falls and took a look at the steep trail before deciding against clambering down all of the slippery rocks. We would look for better hiking further on.

We drove on until reaching Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park, around mile marker 22. This park was actually more promising for a real hike. After viewing the lower falls, our guide book said that if we climbed up a short trail on the other side of the river, we would find another, more beautiful waterfall.

That trail had, since the book's printing, obviously washed out. You could see where the pavement ended rather abruptly into mud. We started climbing what initially looked like a dirt trail, however, it became clear about halfway up that we were actually in the creek bed. While climbing, one of my feet came out of its shoe. Fortunately, I managed to put it back in the shoe before stepping in the mud. We all got very muddy here, nevertheless. At the top of this small hill, we reached a dirt road.

We continued down the dirt road to the left and, almost immediately, came to a small, steel footbridge over an aqueduct. This area gets most of the rainfall on the island and is prime watershed. A series of pipes carry water from this part of the island to the rest of the island. This small footbridge was the most difficult portion of our hike, and somewhat dangerous, but we all made it over. We resumed the very muddy trail on up the hill and a short time later arrived at Upper Pua'a Ka'a Falls.

It was worth it! This waterfall cascades over the precipice into what must have once been a lava tube, but has eroded away leaving the harder shell, leaving only a beautiful, round pool of water. The beauty of this setting was definitely worth the copious quantities of mud we had to endure to get here.

On the way back down, we decided to follow the dirt road to see if there was another way down to the road, instead of taking the same muddy way back. This dirt road apparently belongs to the East Maui Irrigation company, so we figured they must have a way down. Shortly past the turn off to the muddy way we had come up, we found a nice - dry - dirt road that took us almost directly back down to the road. If only we had known on the way up, we could have avoided the mudding that we all got!

We continued on until just past mile marker 24, when we reached Upper Hanawi Falls. This particular waterfall is spring fed so it runs year round, though it is at its most impressive after a good rain. Although not the rainy season, we had had some rain the day before and it was threatening to rain more today, so the pool was full of water and a relatively good flow could be seen. We declined to take the steep downhill trail to Lower Hanawi Falls, as we wanted to continue on to Hana ... and beyond.

Our next stop was at Kahanu Garden, a short drive just off the Hana Highway at mile marker 31. Kahanu Garden has the world's greatest collection of breadfruit, and more beautiful flowers, but this isn't its main attraction. The centerpiece of Kahanu Garden is the Piʻilanihale Heiau, the remains of the largest ancient temple in the Hawaiian Islands. It was begun in the 14th century, about the same time that the great cathedrals of Europe were being completed, and was finished in the 16th century by Chief Pi'ilani after he unified the island of Maui. This massive temple is built on top of a lava flow out of basalt and takes up about 3 acres. It's hard to grasp the immensity of this building from the ground. Fortunately, aerial photos of the temple give us a better idea of its scope.


After about 45 minutes of walking through the gardens and seeing the ancient temple and many beautiful wildflowers, we continued on to Hana, reaching it a short time later. It was about 1:00 pm and we decided that it was time to stop for lunch. Hana is a fairly small town and there isn't a great selection of restaurants. We had lunch at the Hana Ranch Restaurant. The food was fine, though it took over an hour to arrive and didn't come as ordered. That said, the bathrooms were a welcome respite and gave us the opportunity to wash off some of the mud we had been accumulating over the course of the day. After lunch, we went down to the black sand beach and walked around a bit, while the kiddo played and tried to catch more sand crabs. We considered walking to a red sand beach just around the point from the beach, but the trail was washed out, making the way impassable for all but mountain goats. This was, however, much more of a delay than we had planned for in Hana and we needed to move on.

After lunch, we continued on past Hana, reaching the last waterfall - Wailua Falls, near mile marker 45 - that we would see before our final destination. This is a truly great waterfall, descending almost 200 feet off a lava precipice, with a beautiful view from the road. Fortunately, there was a parking lot at this stop, as well as several vendors selling their wares to the many passersby. We didn't stay long. We still hadn't reached our final destination - the Ohe'o Gulch - and it was already 2:30 pm.

Our plan was to finish up the day with a proper hike up the Pipiwai Trail to see Ohe'o Gulch, also known as the "Seven Sacred Pools". The name was an invention for tourists, there aren't seven pools and they aren't sacred. Nevertheless, it's one of the most spectacular hikes on the island. If you're going to go all the way out to Hana, you need to go a little further because this is a must see. By the time we reached the portion of Haleakala National Park that contains the Ohe'o Gulch, it was already 3:00 pm. The Pipiwai Trail being only 4 miles round trip, we decided we still had enough time to do the hike and make it back to the car before dark. We put on our hiking gear and off we went.

After the first half mile, we reached the overlook for Makahiku Falls. This spectacular waterfall plunges hundreds feet over a cliff into a pool below, so far down that it is unseen from the overlook above. Like many of the places we have seen today, water running down the side of Haleakala erodes out the lava tubes until they collapse, leaving a bowl shaped channel/canyon for the water to run in.

There is no diving allowed in the pools off the Pipiwai Trail. People have tried this in the past, with sometimes fatal results, not just from the submerged rocks that can't be seen from above, but also from flash floods originating from rain farther up the mountain. Swimming is still allowed, but only when there hasn't been such rain that flash floods are possible. Signage to this effect is posted at the entrance to the park at the Kipahulu Ranger Station. Because it had been raining today, albeit lightly, we kept to the main trail after taking in the tremendous view.

We continued on up the slopes of Haleakala, past a gate, until we came to a large banyan tree. Not quite so neatly trimmed as the one in Lahaina, but massive nevertheless. While our son was exploring the banyan, he accidentally discovered that cows had also previously discovered this spot. Yuck! We wiped him off the best we could and moved on.

At this point, the trail became quite muddy but since we were still pretty muddy from our earlier adventures, this didn't really bother us. What's a few more layers of mud? We slogged on until we reached another waterfall, difficult to see, but what could be seen was a good view of the eroded lava tube into which it flowed.

At about the one mile mark, we entered an open area and crossed over two bridges. This gave us a good opportunity to look at the Ohe'o stream and more waterfalls beneath us. But the best was yet to come!

After the bridges, we entered a bamboo forest. This was by far the most fascinating part of the hike. Daylight receded far behind us as we moved into the forest. The bamboo rose so high - at least 20 feet above us - that it blocked out most of the light, so much that we almost needed flashlights. The bamboo was so dense here that, if there wasn't already a trail, you wouldn't be able to get through without several sharp machetes. Here too, the path was so muddy that the trail was actually a platform made out of Trex planks. We continued this way for the last 0.7 miles until we came back to the Ohe'o stream

At this point, we could hear the roar of a waterfall getting louder and louder. We knew we were getting close, but we couldn't tell quite how close. The last section of the trail required us to fjord a shallow, but swift, stream. We walked very carefully through the stream until, a minute or two later, we came to another stream. This one was more difficult to cross, but all of the hikers there helped each other which made it much easier.

At this point, it was raining pretty heavily, or at least that's what we thought until we realized that this wasn't rain, but the waterfall coming down on top of us. We looked up and there was Waimoku Falls, our final destination on this hike, towering above us. This time, instead of looking down on the Falls from above, we were looking almost straight up out of the lava tube. It was an incredible sight! We stayed for several minutes to take it all in, and then hurried back down the trail, so that we would get to our car before dark. This we did, and then the long drive home, back the way we had come.

I drove most of the way back on the mostly unlit Hana highway, grateful for the fact that I was following another car's red taillights to show me the way. We were very muddy, and by this time hungry, but very happy.

Sunrise Over Haleakala

We woke up at 3:00 am this morning. No, we weren't completely insane. We wanted to get to the summit of Haleakala by sunrise, which this morning was at approximately 6:03 am. I had heard that this is an absolutely spectacular sight and a must see. Although I had been to the summit of Haleakala once before, I had never seen a sunrise there.

Since the summit of Haleakala is at an elevation of 10,023 feet, we knew we would need some kind of jacket. It was likely to be very cold in the wee hours of the morning. We had parkas and our son had a hoodie - not quite warm enough so we each threw on an extra tee shirt. This would have to do.

It was pitch black when we left the hotel at Kaanapali, on the other side of the island from Haleakala. We grabbed some drinks and some breakfast foods, and started our two plus hour drive.

As we rounded the point and Kahului came into view, we noticed a huge fire on the plain. We figured it must be one of the sugar cane fields, which are burned right before harvest. The fire got much larger as we got closer and we soon realized that we would be driving right past it. Quite spectacular. We certainly don't see this everyday in California!

As we left the sugar cane fire, we began our ascent up the slopes of Haleakala. We had noticed that the summit was covered in clouds and we wondered if we had gotten up so early in the morning for nothing. Only time would tell.

At last we reached the turn that would take us up the final series of switchbacks to the summit, at which point we ascended into a thick cloudbank. This wasn't looking promising, but just before reaching the summit, we popped out of the cloudbank and into the clear night sky.

We didn't hit much traffic. I think we underestimated the amount of time it would take us to drive, and most people had probably already arrived before we did. That theory was confirmed when we got to the nearly full parking lot, just before sunrise, as the Haleakala National Park ranger was beginning his talk. We waited, all watching the sky above the cloud covered horizon begin to brighten. Soon, those same clouds had a golden lining for a few short minutes before the sun's golden globe finally peaked above.

The most amazing thing about experiencing a Haleakala sunrise is the knowledge that you will never again see the same sunrise. The clouds will never be in just the same position or shape. The sun will never again make quite the same patterns of light in the sky. It was a uniquely personal experience.

But what to do when you've driven over two hours to the summit of an over 10,000 foot mountain? Go hiking, of course!

This wasn't exactly hiking, but we did every short walk that was available. We hadn't packed the necessary equipment to do a full scale hike; only two Camelbak water bottles, a large fanny pack and some snack bars. We had hoped to do a horseback ride on the Sliding Sands trail, but one telephone call confirmed for us that our son was too young. So we walked up White Hill just past the Visitors Center and took in the view. Then we walked up to the summit and took in an even better view. Another short walk up to Magnetic Peak gave us a good view of the Observatory, which is off limits to the public.

We also saw several good examples of the Haleakala Silversword ("ahinahina") in all stages of its life cycle. Haleakala is the only place in the world where this plant grows. Walking around the parking lot were some juvenile Hawaiian Geese ("nene").

Since I had taken the drive up, Duane took the drive down. Unsurprisingly, I slept most of the drive.

Needle and Eyes

Our first adventure of the day was a visit to the Iao Needle and Botanical Gardens. The area is lush and verdant, making it difficult to believe that the battle of Kepaniwai, the "Battle of the Damned Water," was once fought here. On this ground, Kamehameha I fought for control of the island of Maui, defeating Kalanikupule, the Chief of Maui, in battle. So many people were killed, that the Iao Stream was choked with bodies causing it to run red with blood. The Iao Valley is also associated with the Hawaiian god Kane, the giver of life, and it was here, therefore, that Maui's chiefs and nobility were buried.

It's difficult to imagine such a horrific battle scene in such a beautiful place. This spot is now a popular tourist attraction because of the Iao Needle itself and because of its lush vegetation.

The hike is relatively short - only half a mile from the parking lot and it is paved the whole way. But the overlook at the top has a tremendous view of the Iao Needle. On the way down, we took the alternate path through the botanical gardens, which have been planted by a local association. It was fascinating how the Iao Stream had been diverted through an intricate series of pipes to get water to the various terraces for growing. Native plants as well as some plants brought from Polynesia have been grown - bananas, taro and ginger among them.

After this short walk, we decided to do a couple more short walks, but decided to drive the direct way instead of all the way around the West side of the island. This involved traveling on an extremely narrow one lane road for about a mile. If you meet someone on this stretch of road, you have to back up as there is no where to pull over. Our destination was the Nakalele Blowhole and the Olivine Pool.

Just before the narrow spot, we stopped at Kahakuloa Village. Anyone who's willing to paint lava rocks pink in order to attract customers to their shaved ice shop deserves some business! After leaving Kahakuloa we proceeded up the very narrow, cliffside road. We were blessed, despite the fact that we ignored our travel guide's advice on direction of travel, not to meet any cars coming the opposite direction and so did not have to back up.

A short while later we reached the Olivine Pool near mile marker 16. The first part of this unofficial trail is almost non-existent and you find yourself scrambling down jagged lava rocks.

The pool and geologic formations. however, make the risk of cutting your legs on the jagged lava worth it. While we did not bring swim suits on this trip, it is possible to swim in the pool and many people do so. The water is a beautiful shade of olive green and from there you have a beautiful view of the waves crashing over nearby lava.



Next to the pool is another blowhole, though not quite as spectacular as the Nakalele Blowhole that we were above to visit. Most interesting, however, is the interaction of the wind, water and lava. Wind and salt water have eroded the lava, giving it the look of a beautiful, albeit sharp, lace. From the Nakalele Blowhole, our next stop, there is a trail named the Acid War Zone trail, which runs along many formations similar to these.

Despite the jagged lava rocks, wind and salt water, lest anyone think that this is a barren wasteland, beautiful green succulents can be seen growing in the crevices between rocks and the upper portion of the trail was littered with brightly colored flowers. The total length of this portion of our day's hike was no more than 45 minutes. About 20 minutes down and another 25 minutes up. Needless to say, this is not a trail for flip flops. Good hiking shoes, or at a minimum hiking sandals, should be worn on this trail.

After reaching the trailhead once more, we proceeded on to the Nakalele Blowhole, our last destination for the day. We timed our arrival as close as possible to high tide, because a strong surf and high tide make for the best viewing. We were not disappointed.

The water was blowing up in great, powerful jets. Blowholes are created when the surf undercuts the rock along the shoreline, eventually eroding a hole through the top. The wave action and high tide cause an impress geyser-like effect. Don't get too close though! This is not something you want to fall into. It is likely you'd never get back out and the surf would pound you into a pulp against the sharp lava. People have also been known to get sucked into the hole by the retreating water (think vacuum), so it is best to keep a respectful distance.

This trail was similar to the trail to the Olivine Pool, a bit longer although somewhat less challenging. Also interesting are the geologic strata that can be seen where the lava has eroded away. A red layer, indicating that the volcano belched lava rich in iron, can be seen sandwiched in between different layers of aa.

The Nakalele Blowhole is accessible either via the Acid War Zone trail or by the shorter half mile trail which we took. This hike will take about an hour and a half, giving yourself plenty of time to look around at the blowhole and adjacent tide pools.

Uleoli Beach

This morning, we went to Mass at the beautiful Maria Lanakila church where they have a wonderful choir. Afterwards, we had lunch in Lahaina and walked around Banyan Tree Park. I kept to my diet and had the seared tuna.

After lunch, we visited the Maui Ocean Center, where we saw lots of sharks, fish, sea horses and turtles. Afterwards, we visited the highlight of our day, Uleoli Beach, also known simply as the Black Sand Beach.

Here the beach, instead of being made out of seashells by the pounding action of the surf, is made out of black lava or a'a. I'd only visited a black sand beach once before many years ago, on the island of Lanai and found it very coarse under my feet. Uleoli's black sand was much finer and softer to walk on. The wind blew warm and gentle on us. What a beautiful day!

We had much fun chasing sand crabs all over the beach. My husband and son worked at scooping them out of their holes and catching them so that they could hold them in their hands for a few brief moments before letting them go again. Fortunately, they weren't big enough to pinch!

Hawaiian Ramblings

We took off to Hawaii today for a much needed vacation. A little fun in the sun, rest and relaxation.

We arrived in Maui this afternoon in time to fetch groceries, check in to our condo, and get some beach time.

This photo was taken from Napili, where we had dinner. Little did I realize - until we arrived - that this was the same restaurant that we had eaten at many years ago for a New Year's Eve party. (I had made the reservations by telephone.)

I managed to keep to my diet all day, until dinner. I forgot and ate the mashed potatoes that came with my fish. Oops. I guess the Mai Tai wasn't on my diet either, but that was intentional.

Nike!

My day of reckoning has come and gone - three times over now. By the end of week one, I had lost nearly 10 pounds. By the end of week two I had lost another 7 pounds. By the end of week four, even being on vacation and missing a weigh in, I had lost yet another 5 pounds. I'm currently down about 23 pounds and am now at my pre-brain tumor weight. That was my first goal.

I've also shed two dress sizes. I don't have to shop in the "plus" department any more. I went shopping this afternoon, bought a bunch of clothes and didn't even try them on. When I got home, I gave my husband a fashion show and everything fit. Whooppee!

Hawaii is going to be really fun next week. I might even buy a swimsuit!