Bugs, Beaches, Banana Bread
Maui was our first trip out of the continental US in two years, and after having to cancel two planned trips due to covid, neither of us was actually able to get excited about being on a trip until we actually got to the island. After about 24 hours, I started to feel like I could relax and believe that I was on vacation. It helps that Maui is gorgeous and easy to get around, and the food is wonderful.
For the first half of our trip we stayed in an Airbnb in Upcountry Maui near Makawao. The listing warned that we’d need to be alright with jungle sounds, which I was excited about. We got to the cabin after dark and the surrounding forest was full of the sounds of bugs, wind through leaves, and the occasional feral chicken cluck. In the morning we were woken by roosters (several times) and treated to an expansive view of forest, mountains, and a bit of ocean. Our host gave us a tour of her property, which is a garbage-dump-turned-coffee-farm that is dotted with fruit trees, ancient burial sites, and some amazing rock drawings along the river. We also each got approximately 30 bug bites on the tour, which we treated with calamine lotion from the cabin while being overwhelmed by nostalgia.
The view from our cabin in Upcountry Maui (photo/Jason Rafal)
On our first afternoon we decided to drive a little bit up the road to Hana to see a couple of attractions and get some food at a roadside stand. The stand was closed, either from covid or it being Thanksgiving week, so we pressed on to the next stand and ate banana bread for lunch before doing a little exploring. First lesson learned: never count on availability of food on the road to Hana. Once we had at least some food, our first visit was to the Keanae peninsula, where we ate bread and watched the waves crash against the dark volcanic rocks. The banana bread (Aunty Sandy’s) and the coast are both worth a stop in their own right, but together they are really excellent.
After the peninsula we went back toward town and stopped at the Garden of Eden arboretum, which is one of many stops on the road to Hana that is privately owned. Land rights for these areas are very interesting - some of them are private and you pay to go onto the land, some are private and you will be trespassing if you go onto the land, and some (though not a lot) are public land (state, regional, or national parks). The Garden of Eden charges admission but is definitely worth a visit to see a beautiful variety of tropical plants.
The garden’s guard dog, a sweetheart named Dan D Lion (photo/Jason Rafal)
I’m still trying to figure out what kind of tree this is, but it was amazing to stand under (photo/Jason Rafal)
We spent sunset on a local beach, hanging out with sea turtles. They’re awesome and calming all at the same time.
On Wednesday we set out early to do the full road to Hana. It’s a wonderful experience, but it’s an incredibly long day trip. We made 8 stops with some short hikes and didn’t swim at all, and it took almost 12 hours round trip. I’ve heard that some people stay overnight in Hana, which is definitely a good idea if you want to see more. It’s also a good idea to get an audio guide that you can play in your car. We bought one from the (somewhat problematically named) GyPSy Guides, but once we got back I heard there’s a local version as well. The guides are downloadable and tell you information when you hit certain GPS points, which is really helpful in areas without service, and they also share a lot of interesting history and culture.
Since we got an early start, we were able to get parking at the very popular Twin Falls, which includes a short hike to a couple of lovely waterfalls. Some of the non-volcanic rock walls here have a beautiful honeycomb pattern, which makes the waterfalls even more interesting to me. We didn’t swim because it was 8 am and 65 degrees out, but it would have been a nice place to swim.
Our next stop was the Hana Lava Tube, where we explored the large cavern with flashlights while reading informative signs. The cave was relatively untouched and completely unlit, which was a nice alternative to some other caves we’ve been to, and we saw a lot of stalactites and stalagmites.
Our next stop was Wai'ānapanapa State Park, which was one of my favorite areas of the day. They recently switched to a reservation system, so you have to book a time slot in advance and be in and out within that 2.5 hour window. There’s a black sand beach, which was quite crowded but still awesome, and a hiking trail that winds through black rocks and neon green vegetation along the coast. It was pretty amazing.
We ate lunch in Hana, which is tiny and adorable and has several food trucks (though most of them were closed). After lunch we pressed on.
Since there was parking available and we had to take advantage of that, we stopped quickly at Waioka pond, which would be an amazing place to jump off rocks and swim if you’re not in a hurry, and then Wailua falls, which is another beautiful and quite tall waterfall.
Our last top was just inside Haleakalā National Park, where we took the Pīpīwai Trail. This was my other favorite part of the day. We hiked through a bamboo forest, where the wind made the bamboo stalks clink together, and I felt like I was surrounded by a giant wooden wind chime. The end of the trail is a valley with a huge waterfall, which was beautiful as well. The bamboo forest alone makes it worth the trip, but it is half an hour past Hana and takes some extra time. The park also has smaller waterfalls, pools, and a beautiful rugged coastline.
The view looking up ‘Ohe’o Gulch (photo/Jason Rafal)
Nicole on the coast next to ‘Ohe’o Gulch (photo/Jason Rafal)
Since the road to Hana is busy tourist destination with complicated property laws and access rules, these are the general tourist guidelines that should always be followed:
Pull over to let locals pass
Don’t go on private property unless explicitly invited to do so
Don’t stop or park on the road
Respect No Parking signs
Don’t use drones
Generally, just be respectful and kind and ready to change plans when needed
After our long driving day, we spent Thanksgiving cooking and relaxing in the cabin before we migrated to the other side of the island for the rest of our trip.
We got a rainbow for Thanksgiving on our last morning at the cabin (photo/Jason Rafal)