Today we took an adventure down the Road to Hana, which is a road back into “old Maui†which is about 52 miles long with 617 curves with around 50 bridges…seriously. Many stretches of the road are one-lane and you have to be careful and yield to oncoming traffic. The road itself is an adventure, but Crystal and I wanted more. We were told by many people where we’re staying to not bother with the trip…that it was a waste. Boy are we glad we’re stubborn southerners that don’t always listen to others! HA!
We started off around 8:30am or so to Pai’a and stopped for breakfast at Charley’s…a popular local joint in town. The service was slooooowwww and we spent more time in there than we planned. Because of that, we got a later start on the Road to Hana than we planned. We stopped by The Juice Box Company and grabbed a cooler and boxed lunch to take with us and we were on our way!
The first reaction to entering the Road to Hana was, “WOOOOWWW!†It’s such a sharp difference from the “touristy†parts of Maui. The area gets a LOT of rain and is basically a tropical forest. There are lush green plants and trees all around and driving a convertible allowed us to see, hear, & smell just about everything.
Our first adventure was a hike that led to what is called Four Waterfalls or something…I may have just made that up since there were…um….four waterfalls on the hike. We walked through an absolutely INCREDIBLE bamboo forest. I have never seen bamboo that dense and tall. It was just amazing. We ended up taking the wrong trail and found ourselves in the middle of Maui probably near the set of LOST. After getting covered in mud and working up a nasty, stinky sweat, we decided to turn back. We were having laughs along the way, so it wasn’t a big deal…Crystal may say otherwise, but this is my version of it! We made our way back to where we branched off the trail and then proceed down the CORRECT trail. About 50 yards later we found the first waterfall. It was the first waterfall we had seen in Maui and it didn’t disappoint. Just as we were leaving, I slipped on a rock. One foot went one way and the other foot decided to go the opposite way. I ended up straddling the rock as I banged up my shin pretty bad and busted my coconuts. Thank goodness for cold, Hawaiian mountain water! We glanced at the second waterfall and decided to get back on the road.
The next stop was the Garden of Eden. It’s an immaculate Arboretum with all sorts of flowers, trees, birds, etc. This is where we decided to open up our boxed lunch as they had a nice little pavilion with an awesome view of the ocean. Crystal decided to pick some fruit from a tree (in the Garden of Eden…anyone catching the irony?) and tried to eat it. Well…she couldn’t even peel it (neither could I) so she tossed it through a tree in front of her….completely unaware of the couple on the other side of the tree having a nice romantic chat on a bench. Luckily it just landed beside the lady’s foot and was enough for Crystal and I to get a good giggle out of.
We continued up the coast and snapped some incredible pictures of the mountains, ridges, coastline, and ocean. We ended up making our last stop at Blue Pool, which is about 3 miles off the main road. We had to take a dirt road and hike about 100 yard up the coast on lava rock to get to it, but WOW was it worth it. What we arrived at was this huge, beautiful waterfall with crystal clear water beneath it facing nothing but ocean. The area is completely closed off on both sides with a waterfall in front and ocean behind….simply amazing.
Our trip back was unfortunately at night. I had to drive allllll the way back up the 52 miles, 617 curves, and 50 bridges in the dark (not recommended). Somehow Crystal slept the entire way. There was no radio station available and no cell phone service…so I was on my own. Luckily I can keep a decent conversation with the voices in my head.
We rolled into the resort around 8pm and proceeded to shower the “Hana Funk†off as we both were pretty rank. We then went to Leilani’s to eat dinner where Crystal ordered Fish Tacos. Your nose just curled didn’t it!!! They are actually pretty good!!! It sounds a lot worse than it really is. After eating we came back to the resort and called it a day. Hana was simply amazing and was everything we pictured Maui to be. Check out the pictures mixed in with the others by clicking the photos up on the top-right of this page.