According to
Maui Revealed, The Road to Hana is "the crown Jewel of driving" in Hawaii. It is a very narrow two lane road with lots of one lane bridges that begins in Kahului and heads east along the north coast and then follows the base of Haleakala around to Hana. It said to leave early in the guidebook so we headed out about 6:30 am and pretty much had the road all to ourselves. It goes through the lush windward-side forested area of Maui. (Please know I have taken the liberty of using descriptions in this book throughout my comments.)
There were lots of black lava beach areas from some of the more recent lava flows and they were stunning. We drove down into Ke'anae Peninsula and caught these great waves. As we got back on the highway above, we saw the taro fields in the town.
The "Three Bears" waterfall was one of the few we saw flowing. The rainwater from this side of the island is what irrigates all those acres of sugar cane in Central Maui. So, there are times when the falls are dry because the water is being diverted.
We stopped at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach. There are spring-fed freshwater caves there with nice pools that you can swim in. The pictures didn't come out, but the folks swimming were sure enjoying it. Then we walked down to the volcanic black sand beach. The beach was formed when lava flowed and fountained into the sea near here, shattering on contact with the ocean. Fragments smashed against each other and formed the sand. There was a trailup to the cliffs on the other side. Great views.
Around a few more turns and we're back to white sand beaches, broken up coral. We took a brief stop in Hana town and decided that we would follow the road all the way around instead of return the way we came. There is a section of the road that is improved gravel and old broken pavement so not everyone goes that way. We were glad we did!
Next stop was the overlook above Hamoa Beach, the best bodysurfing on the island. There were quite a number of folks out doing just that. A gorgeous beach!
Then on to 'Ohe'o Gulch and the Seven Sacred Pools. This is part of the Haleakala National Park...remember all those Cinder Cones we saw on Sunday? This is where one of the huge valley's ends up at the sea. It's designated a Biological Preserve as most of the plants there are endemic to Hawaii. The pools are beautiful with a waterfall spilling into each one before they empty into the ocean.
The road wandered into Kaupo where we ran into one of the hikers who had just come down the Kaupo Gap Trail, the other valley that comes down from the Crater. It's a long way down--about 9700'. Kaupo is pretty much made up of a General store, a few houses and St. Joseph's Church, built in 1862 that holds services on every 5th Sunday.
Then on to dry side of the island again. If you look closely in the picture below there is a wild Mama goat and her kid. They have an active control program for the ferrel goats as they dessimate the vegetation. They leave a few male goats who are collared figuring it is the fastest and easiest way to find the females. Guess they missed this one! It was a great drive around the island and the road not nearly as horrible as indicated in the guidebooks. We had lunch on the cliff where we watched the white tropic birds last week and then headed home.
According to Maui Revealed, The Road to Hana is "the crown Jewel of driving" in Hawaii. It is a very narrow two lane road with lots of one lane bridges that begins in Kahului and heads east along the north coast and then follows the base of Haleakala around to Hana. It said to leave early in the guidebook so we headed out about 6:30 am and pretty much had the road all to ourselves. It goes through the lush windward-side forested area of Maui. (Please know I have taken the liberty of using descriptions in this book throughout my comments.)
There were lots of black lava beach areas from some of the more recent lava flows and they were stunning. We drove down into Ke'anae Peninsula and caught these great waves. As we got back on the highway above, we saw the taro fields in the town.
The "Three Bears" waterfall was one of the few we saw flowing. The rainwater from this side of the island is what irrigates all those acres of sugar cane in Central Maui. So, there are times when the falls are dry because the water is being diverted.
We stopped at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach. There are spring-fed freshwater caves there with nice pools that you can swim in. The pictures didn't come out, but the folks swimming were sure enjoying it. Then we walked down to the volcanic black sand beach. The beach was formed when lava flowed and fountained into the sea near here, shattering on contact with the ocean. Fragments smashed against each other and formed the sand. There was a trailup to the cliffs on the other side. Great views.
Around a few more turns and we're back to white sand beaches, broken up coral. We took a brief stop in Hana town and decided that we would follow the road all the way around instead of return the way we came. There is a section of the road that is improved gravel and old broken pavement so not everyone goes that way. We were glad we did!
Next stop was the overlook above Hamoa Beach, the best bodysurfing on the island. There were quite a number of folks out doing just that. A gorgeous beach!
Then on to 'Ohe'o Gulch and the Seven Sacred Pools. This is part of the Haleakala National Park...remember all those Cinder Cones we saw on Sunday? This is where one of the huge valley's ends up at the sea. It's designated a Biological Preserve as most of the plants there are endemic to Hawaii. The pools are beautiful with a waterfall spilling into each one before they empty into the ocean.
The road wandered into Kaupo where we ran into one of the hikers who had just come down the Kaupo Gap Trail, the other valley that comes down from the Crater. It's a long way down--about 9700'. Kaupo is pretty much made up of a General store, a few houses and St. Joseph's Church, built in 1862 that holds services on every 5th Sunday.
Then on to dry side of the island again. If you look closely in the picture below there is a wild Mama goat and her kid. They have an active control program for the ferrel goats as they dessimate the vegetation. They leave a few male goats who are collared figuring it is the fastest and easiest way to find the females. Guess they missed this one! It was a great drive around the island and the road not nearly as horrible as indicated in the guidebooks. We had lunch on the cliff where we watched the white tropic birds last week and then headed home.
