Day 2 in Maui continued - Southeast Maui Past Hana (Kipahulu)

As I said earlier, after the Road to Hana, you can go either of two ways: you can go back home the way you came, or you can go in a loop around Southeast Maui and get back to where you started. I recommend the latter as you'll pass through the Seven Sacred Pools, and a couple more waterfalls, but by no stretch is it an easier drive than the Road to Hana.

But here we go, heading back...

From what I've read, Venus Pools seemed like a nice place to stop at, though it's supposedly a 10-15 minute hike, and at this point, we were pretty tired, and the idea of any type of hiking didn't sound so great. 

We did, however, stop at Wailua Falls (Mile Marker 48). A very nice waterfall with a pool below. Right before we stopped here, the rain was coming down pretty hard, but started to clear up in a couple minutes.

Getting to the pool is obviously doable, but it wasn't easy either.

Finally, at Mile Marker 42, you arrive at part of Haleakala National Park which has the 'Ohe'o Gulch aka Seven Sacred Pools. Because of the rain, the water in the various pools looked a little murky and also due to the rain, the park was prohibiting swimming in the pools.

Last waterfall we stopped at was Alelele Falls (Mile Marker 39). This one required following a trail to the waterfall. As we walked on, turns out there really wasn't much of a trail, but we followed a path that would start, then disappear, and continue on. After close to 10 minutes, we caught a glimpse of a huuuuge waterfall.  

The path died, and in order to reach it, we had to cross the knee deep stream. I attempted to do so, when I slipped on a rock in the stream, in my flip flops (great idea) and stubbed my toe pretty badly. At that point, it started raining really hard, and we decided to head back. Walking back, my toe was in ridiculous pain, and bleeding. I took a picture of it for you blog followers, but I think I'll hold off on posting it haha. Long story short, we never made it to the waterfall.

You can sort of see a path in these trees.

The point where I attempted to cross was probably a bit further upstream from here.

After some of the nicer stops, you drive on unpaved road for maybe close to 20 miles and when it is paved, it's rough pavement. The lanes for the most part are pretty small as you'll see in some of the pictures.

And that's a small car...

Some expansive views of Haleakala.

About 10 hours after starting the Road to Hana, we made it back to Kahului, where we ate at Da Kitchen Cafe. Great food, and not overly expensive. We tried to fried spam musubi and one of their specialty loco mocos. This stuff was good, but before we left for home, we got some food to go and I had the Garlic Shrimp Fried Rice. Probably my most memorable dish of the trip. It was awesome, though I have no pictures.

Anyhow, that was the second part of our trip to Hana. All in all, we left Ka'anapali (West Maui) around 6:30 AM. It takes a little over an hour to get to Mile Marker 0 on the Road to Hana. We made it Da Kitchen Cafe in Kahului probably about 5:00 PM. Even after the rough drive through Southeast Maui, I'd still recommend it. I think some of the more expansive views would have been nicer too if it wasn't such a cloudy afternoon.

Up Next: My first time snorkeling

Day 2 in Maui - Road to Hana

The Road to Hana takes you through what I and most people imagine to be that Hawaiian paradise - Lush scenery with the ocean taking the boundary on one end, and on the opposite, beautiful waterfall after beautiful waterfall.

It's a LONG drive.

It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get from Mile Marker 0 to Mile Marker 35. Keep in mind, and you'll see in some of the pictures, that it's a very windy road. But the drive was well worth it.

So if you're interested, this is a long blog, but the pictures should take you through what we saw on The Road to Hana...

The early parts of the trip were mostly green, green, and more green, and then you start to get a little more of the ocean in the background.

It's a two lane highway for maybe more than half of the way, but the other half, you have to wait for other cars coming in the opposite direction since there's literally only room for one car, especially on and around these bridges.

Here's the first waterfall we encountered, Haipua'ena Falls (after Mile Marker 11). It was a smaller one, and required a muddy path along the way. We both wore flip flops, and for the most part, it's no problem, but you're definitely gonna get dirty, and on some stops later in the trip, could have helped having shoes (more on that later).


This is a view of Ke'anae Peninsula (Mile Marker 13). On the middle right of the picture, you can see the path of the highway, and on the bottom right, is a black sand beach, and the next stop.

Our first black sand beach, Honomanu Bay (Mile Marker 14). In the background, you can see the road we just traveled, and where the previous picture was taken. This beach was completely empty.

Another view of the zig zag highway that we've just passed. If you're not driving, better bring some Bonine or Dramamine.

Next stop was the Wailua Valley State Wayside (Mile Marker 19). In the first picture, you can see some taro fields. On the other side is the Ko'olau Gap. 

We didn't get to stop at Waikani Falls, aka Three Bears Falls (Mile Marker 19), but did get a quick shot of it from the road.

Narrow bridges along the way, a common sight. 

Next was a Pua'a Ka'a State Park (Mile Marker 22) which had a sequence of waterfalls and pools, one of which had people jumping into from the top of the rock (though the sign says not to), so if you're into that sort of thing, I guess this works. Each of these pictures is a different part of the falls.

At Mile Marker 24 is Hanawi Falls.

29 miles in, and 3 hours later, we took a break for some fish tacos at Island Style Tacos. Pretty good, and a good snack to split before lunch. And yes, those are wild chickens.

Right before Hana is Wai'anapanapa Park (Mile Marker 32), a black sand beach. Probably one of my favorite stops along the way, a great looking place. 

It's hard to find, but a little after Mile Marker 35, on the left side in front of a house, is Braddah Hutt's BBQ Grill. This place is awesome! The chicken bbq was hands down the best Hawaiian bbq I've had.

This food stop basically wrapped up the Road to Hana, about. But the day isn't over, because you can go either of two ways. You can go back home the way you came, or you can keep going on the highway through Kipahulu, or Southeast Maui. You're probably wondering, "wait, what about Hana?" Well, the Road to Hana is really moreso about the trip to Hana than the place itself. There's a couple places to stay in Hana, and apparently it's really nice, but we didn't do that. Up to this point, roads are well paved and any rental car would do.

On the Road to Hana, you see things along the way, and you're in awe, and then at the end of the trip, you're so tired you're not sure how much you enjoyed it. But really, looking back, it was amazing. 

Up Next: Day 2 in Maui continued - Southeast Maui past Hana (Kipahulu)

Day 1 in Maui - First Impressions

Sophy and I took a 5 day trip to Maui...my first time there, and actually, my first time in Hawaii. After getting there, turns out my first Maui meal would a pepperoni pizza from Costco. Went there to pick up a case of water which can usually be had for $3.85 but at the Maui Costco, it's $6.98.

Moving on...even though I had spent countless hours reading about Maui, I still didn't quite know what to expect. I got there, saw these open valleys and thought "well, this is nice, but this is it?"

We got to the hotel in Ka'anapali, West Maui, and definitely started to get more of what I expected to be "Hawaii." We actually rented a condo at Ka'anapali Shores through VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) which worked out pretty well. Room was really nice, view was beautiful, and above all, it was a good price. 

See, more Hawaiian right?

 

View from the room

After checking in, we drove for a few minutes to Lahaina, an old whaling village and the only real downtown in Maui.

Looking at Lahaina's "Front Street"

Right next to the ocean, there's plenty of shops and restaurants.
 

In an odd sequence, we went for Shaved Ice right before dinner. 

For dinner, we chose Kimo's which had a nice view and pretty good food, though expensive. I had Opah, a white Hawaiian moon fish, extremely moist. Actual thing looks funny, google it.

View from the restaurant

After dinner, we ventured a little further past Lahaina to Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop. It's a little hard to find, but they had an amazing Chocolate Macadmia Nut Praline Pie.

After the first day, I realized the majority of people in Maui seem really nice, and even the tourists seem to be on their "best behavior" in terms of kindness. Everything is expensive, though tax is only 4.16%! First day in Hawaii was nice, but I think it was only during the 2nd day when I really got to find the sort of Maui I was looking for.

Btw, we flew Hawaiian Airlines, which was decent in terms of snacks and drinks, but the "complimentary meals" they give out are a joke haha.

Coming Next: Day 2 in Maui - Road to Hana