On the Road to Hana, Thurs, 5/4/23

Last night we decided to get on "The Road to Hana" today, and to that end, we were up early.  Tom was driving, with Jimmy in the passenger seat.  Diane and I were content in the back seat of the big white Toyota 4Runner (which came with the house).  We had our maps and we were on our way before 9am.  Don't know if any of you have heard of this road, but it's synonymous with the Island of Maui.  It's also notorious, known for it's twists and turns, one-lane bridges, high drop-offs, waterfalls and spectacular scenery.  I tell you what, if they straightened the darn thing, it would take a fraction of the time to get to Hana!  (hah, it'll never happen)

 

Our first stop was Ho’okipa Beach Park, favored by surfers.  To my eye, the breakers seemed decent enough, but I'm no surfer.  The gal, above, was fixin' to go out and try her luck.  We saw three red flag warnings -- one for high surf, one for strong current and one for rip currents.  The beach had several lifeguards on duty.

This little guy wasn't worried about any of those warnings -- he had his own personal pool, and he was having a ball.  His folks were nearby.

Somewhere along about Mile Marker 7, we found a place to squeeze in between the cars pulled off the road.  Other areas we tried to stop at to see waterfalls (or whatever), there was no place for the car, so we had to keep going.  We followed a couple to see where the waterfall was, down a muddy track, down-down-down, and we came to this, above.  We decided to turn around at this point.

And we had to walk back up-up-up through this dense bamboo.

Seeing the Rainbow Eucalyptus was the best part of the stop!  These exotic trees are gorgeous.  Would not have wanted to miss these! 

On the road again, above is one of many one-lane bridges over rivers or creeks/waterfalls, all of them at hairpin bends, and at most of them one vehicle had to yield to an oncoming vehicle.  Fun, huh?

We stopped at the Garden of Eden past mile marker ten, not to go through their arboretum, but for a bit of lunch.  Nope, we didn't pick bananas (above), but enjoyed brats, banana bread, chips and slaw.

While we ate lunch at a picnic table, Peacocks, Zebra doves, and Red-crested Cardinals surrounded us. Bottom right photo is a Spotted Dove which we saw later on at a park.  The cute li'l Zebra dove, top right, ate crumbs off our table, even from Tom's fingertip.  They're tiny birds.  The Peacocks weren't too pushy, but you didn't dare turn your back or you'd lose your sandwich!

Lunch is finished.  Let's look for crumbs!

Water, water everywhere!

We pulled over or into every stop we could. Above, we're at Kaumahina State Wayside Park, with Ke'anae Peninsula in the distance.  That's where we're headed.  It was really windy up there!

A nice Australian guy took our picture.

Sitting in the back seat, I was enjoying the ride.  But it was a tortuous drive for Tom who suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome and has a rotator cuff injury.  Diane, next to me in the back seat, was about done in from the winding road, and we were only halfway.  So, what the heck, we turned around.  If they made decals that said, "I made it halfway to Hana," I'd get one.

We dropped down onto the peninsula, and wow, what an amazing spot.  Crashing waves over the sharp lava on one side and the greenest green foliage opposite.  Throw in a huge wind and, wow!

Notice the trees bent way over behind me.

This would NOT be a good swimming hole.

Zowie!

The Road to Hana snakes down the eastern side of Maui, the "wet side" of the island, with over 100" of annual rainfall.  The road crosses over a whole bunch of small waterfalls, obviously draining all that precip.  The road itself is hairy-scary, with so many narrow places where two cars can barely pass each other, or one car has to wait for the other to pass.  Not easy for a lone driver in a big vehicle!  (Tom is the only person authorized to drive this car.) 

We stopped again at Paia to watch the windsurfers skimming across the waves in the gale-force wind.  We spied one guy far out, all of us wondering how'd he'd get back to shore.

It didn't take half the time to return to Kihei -- I'm sure Tom was glad to get out of the car!  After dinner, the four of us parked our booties at the table for a (card) game of Hand and Foot.  One of our favorite pastimes!  We always have fun!

I'll leave you with this glorious sunset.