Maui - The Road to Hana
Jun. 6th, 2018 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
I've been running around watching SIFF films and having visitors come to stay, and I've been completely slacking on doing anything with the photos and video from my trip to Maui last month. Time to fix it! I have so much material I was wondering where to start, and then I thought sod it, I'll start with the Road to Hana, because everyone's heard of that part of the Maui experience, right?
The road to Hana runs along the north coast of Maui from the main tourist resorts in the west to the small (really small) town of Hana in the east. There's no road across the middle of the island, because there's a giant mountain in the way. So the road to Hana is winding, narrow, crosses a hundred single lane bridges over creeks in the rainforest, and half of those creeks have waterfalls as they drop down the mountain.
The first stop is Twin Falls, which is famous and very touristy.
There are many more waterfalls along this river, but unfortunately most of the valley was closed when we visited because of high water levels, so we couldn't go to the others, which are supposed to be better. You can see from the photo that it's not a river to be paddling in that day.
So onward we went to the many smaller streams along the rest of the road, which rapidly gets hairier! Every stream has a waterfall, every waterfall has a plunge pool beneath it for swimming, and none of them have anything like reasonable space to park... Don't ask me to name any of them - that would involve me trying to figure out where each photo was taken as compared to the map. No can do.
You get the idea! Some of them we visited on the way to Hana, some of them we visited on the way back the next day, and honestly which was which depended mostly on if we could find a vaguely plausible space to pull off the road while I took photos.
The whole road was surrounded by beautiful forest.
With gorgeous tropical flowers (probably invasive species, because most things in Hawai'i are).
Looking downstream from the road, the creeks drop away into the forest.
And sometimes, where the forest falls away steeply enough, you can glimpse beyond it to the sea.
Where side roads lead down to the coast, you can find wild, rocky promontories such as Ke'Anae.
The wind is constant, and the waves lash against sharp volcanic lava.
And always there are more waterfalls - you can't get away from those! You can also admire the bridges you just drove over and consider why the weight limit is there.
We stayed overnight in Hana (the smart thing to do - it's possible to go there and back in a day, and many people do, but it's a LONG day with little time to stop and admire, and horrible traffic in both directions). The next morning, with barely a tourist in sight, we set off south of Hana to the section of Haleaka National Park where the mountain tapers down to the sea. Yes, the road passes more waterfalls...
We took a two mile hike up the Pipiwai trail, following the stream away from the coast.
Insane tree is insane.
The trail winds back and forth, crossing the stream and yet more waterfalls and passing through creaking bamboo forest until it arrives at the big one - the 400 foot drop of Waimoku Falls. No photographic angle can really show how dramatic they are.
Following the Pipiwai stream back down to the coast, you arrive at the Pools of Ohe'o, which were also closed due to high water and risk of landslides. Still pretty to overlook, though.
And then we took the road back to the west and Wailea, stopping off at yet more waterfalls we'd skipped the day before. It was a more overcast day, lending the forest and it's streams a different atmosphere.
There! finally some Maui progress! Though it's only two days out of the two week trip. And tomorrow I go off for a long weekend on the Columbia River with the Washington Ornithological Society, and I'll probably take more photos I'll need to edit and organise... Too much travel is a good problem to have, though.
The road to Hana runs along the north coast of Maui from the main tourist resorts in the west to the small (really small) town of Hana in the east. There's no road across the middle of the island, because there's a giant mountain in the way. So the road to Hana is winding, narrow, crosses a hundred single lane bridges over creeks in the rainforest, and half of those creeks have waterfalls as they drop down the mountain.
The first stop is Twin Falls, which is famous and very touristy.
There are many more waterfalls along this river, but unfortunately most of the valley was closed when we visited because of high water levels, so we couldn't go to the others, which are supposed to be better. You can see from the photo that it's not a river to be paddling in that day.
So onward we went to the many smaller streams along the rest of the road, which rapidly gets hairier! Every stream has a waterfall, every waterfall has a plunge pool beneath it for swimming, and none of them have anything like reasonable space to park... Don't ask me to name any of them - that would involve me trying to figure out where each photo was taken as compared to the map. No can do.
You get the idea! Some of them we visited on the way to Hana, some of them we visited on the way back the next day, and honestly which was which depended mostly on if we could find a vaguely plausible space to pull off the road while I took photos.
The whole road was surrounded by beautiful forest.
With gorgeous tropical flowers (probably invasive species, because most things in Hawai'i are).
Looking downstream from the road, the creeks drop away into the forest.
And sometimes, where the forest falls away steeply enough, you can glimpse beyond it to the sea.
Where side roads lead down to the coast, you can find wild, rocky promontories such as Ke'Anae.
The wind is constant, and the waves lash against sharp volcanic lava.
And always there are more waterfalls - you can't get away from those! You can also admire the bridges you just drove over and consider why the weight limit is there.
We stayed overnight in Hana (the smart thing to do - it's possible to go there and back in a day, and many people do, but it's a LONG day with little time to stop and admire, and horrible traffic in both directions). The next morning, with barely a tourist in sight, we set off south of Hana to the section of Haleaka National Park where the mountain tapers down to the sea. Yes, the road passes more waterfalls...
We took a two mile hike up the Pipiwai trail, following the stream away from the coast.
Insane tree is insane.
The trail winds back and forth, crossing the stream and yet more waterfalls and passing through creaking bamboo forest until it arrives at the big one - the 400 foot drop of Waimoku Falls. No photographic angle can really show how dramatic they are.
Following the Pipiwai stream back down to the coast, you arrive at the Pools of Ohe'o, which were also closed due to high water and risk of landslides. Still pretty to overlook, though.
And then we took the road back to the west and Wailea, stopping off at yet more waterfalls we'd skipped the day before. It was a more overcast day, lending the forest and it's streams a different atmosphere.
There! finally some Maui progress! Though it's only two days out of the two week trip. And tomorrow I go off for a long weekend on the Columbia River with the Washington Ornithological Society, and I'll probably take more photos I'll need to edit and organise... Too much travel is a good problem to have, though.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-10 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-10 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-10 10:38 pm (UTC)...and if you happen to pick the wrong island which has a volcano currently having hissy fits. XD
no subject
Date: 2018-06-10 11:02 pm (UTC)