Maui Day 6 (Road to Hana)

We have been off the grid for the last two days because we wanted to do the Road to Hana. And on that side of the island there really isn't any internet or cell phone service. So two days later we are back at our condo and taking a day of relaxing because we played way too hard the last 2 days. So prepare yourself for a long post.

I took SOOO many pictures over the past few days and obviously I can't put them all on here. But I hope the ones I have chosen will give an idea of everything we did and saw. I lost count of how many waterfalls we saw. I read in our guidebook that you an actually get waterfall fatigue from the amount of waterfalls that you could see on the Road to Hana.

To give you an idea of where we drove on the first day I made this map from our condo in Ka'anapali down to Hana. Pretty much on the complete opposite side of the island. But really is was about the journey, not the destination.

Once we started down the Hana Highway (Saturday) we could see why people were telling us it's just beautiful. That side of the island is thick jungle. Along the highway there are a lot of stops. Some are short hikes up to a waterfall and others were longer. Some were even right by the narrow road. We stopped as much as we thought fitting and what we wanted to see.

Our first stop was to Twin Falls. This is what the trail looked like as were were walking up to it. It was only a 1.5 mile round trip trail.

And here is Twin Falls. It was a really busy one. I think because it was the first stop and and easy little hike. We were reading in our little guidebook(which came in very handy on this highway) that everyone spends alot of time at this falls but there are better ones ahead. So we didn't linger very long.

 Our next stop was to go hike to the Na'ili'ili-haele Falls. We had struggles trying to find the start of the trail. But can you blame us?.....(picture below)... it was hidden by all the greenery.

 Once we ventured into the greenery we found ourselves in a bamboo forest. The deeper we got the bamboo got fatter and fatter. It was pretty cool.

This trail actually led us through and along a stream. Before we made it to the first waterfall we talked to a couple that were coming back. We asked them about the trail and the man explained that once we get to the first waterfall there will be a trail up on the left had side with a rope to aid in climbing up to the second waterfall. Then to the left of that there was a ladder that you climbed up to reach the third one.

So this us at the first waterfall.

 Climbing up the rope wasn't too bad. But all of the rocks were wet so finding sure footing was tricky and a little nerve racking. I'm not usually nervous when hiking on rocks, but being pregnant I really didn't want to take an unfortunate fall.

Take a look at the picture below of Jesse looking out over the second waterfall. Do you see the sketchy latter off to the left? It didn't seem so bad until we started climbing up it. Jesse went first and he was even nervous to go up it. There was a rope holding it up around a tree root and the rope looked like it wasn't going to last for much longer. Jesse tried to tie it around better just in case, but it still made us nervous to climb it. Haha, but did that stop us from doing it? Nope. We are crazy.

Climbing back down it got our hearts pumping though. It was one of those things I couldn't think about it or else I probably couldn't have done it. Especially when your husband is climbing down it saying "This is scary". Haha.... I just had to ignore that and just get down.

 These falls were really cool. It was a fall into a pool into a fall into a pool etc. So pretty. And on both sides of it was lined with thick jungle. Quite the experience.

 We made it back to the car after hiking for 2 hours and we were just pooped. Luckily there wasn't anything we wanted to stop and see for a little while so we could rest and eat our packed lunch.

The road hugs the side of the cliff most of the time. And there were some beautiful views of the ocean. If you take a closer look at the green cliff in the background of this picture you can see the road cut in to it. Pretty awesome huh?

Before we know it we had made it to the half way point. YAY!!!

 At the halfway point there was a stand that had homemade Banana Bread, coconuts, fruits and snacks. We were told by a lot of people that we had to buy some Banana Bread when we had the chance. So that's what we did. And it was REALLY yummy.

 This waterfall we could see from the bridge. It's called Waikani Falls (AKA the Three Bears). We were able to park on a small pullout off of the road and climb down to get a good picture of it. This one was pretty cool.

 Ok, this part will have to be the highlight of our day. And we owe it all to our little guidebook that revealed some secrets for us. We stopped at Pua'a Ka'a State Park. Which again we could see a waterfall from the road. But in the book it was telling us that there was a muddy trail up on the right side of this falls that we could take and it would lead us up to another Falls. So we wanted to do it. It was only a ten minute hike to get there. When we got there we had this over look of this secluded waterfall and pool. As we looked down into it was saw a couple down there. So we tried to find the trail that led us down there. By the time we found it that couple was leaving. They told us that we were the first people that they had seen in 2 hours. WHAT? That's so awesome. All of the other falls were just packed with people so we were excited to have it all to ourselves.

All of the other pools hadn't been very tempting to jump into. The water seems kinda mucky and dirty. But this one looked clean and clear. And we were feeling hot and sweaty so it sounded so refreshing to jump in. We knew it would be cold and so we knew we just had to jump in, instead of slipping in slowly. I think we stood on the edge for awhile just giggling about being nervous to get cold. Haha. But we finally found the nerve and jumped in.

And yes it was cold. But it was really refreshing at the same time.

Just past the State Park we found a the lava tubes that Jesse wanted to climb/crawl through. We barely missed it because it was just this little hole in the side of the mountain right off the road. Not going to lie I was a bit nervous to go in. It was pitch black in there. Jesse had brought his head lamp so we did have some light.

 I was grateful that the tube was only 140 feet long. But when we came out on the other side we were in a field of tree roots.

 This is a picture of us as right before we made it back to the road.

 Funny weather we had all day. We had moments of down pour rain, moments of misty rain and sunshine the rest. But there was one moment when we came around a corner and saw this beautiful rainbow. It was incredible to see the ENTIRE bow.

The rest of the drive there wasn't a whole lot left to see. We did go down a road that had a freshwater cave that we didn't spend much time at. I didn't even take a picture because there were several people and I couldn't have gotten a good shot of them not being in the picture. And besides we were feeling anxious to check in. We wanted to find our place before it got to dark.

 

We stayed at this little one bedroom cottage called the Hideaway. It was perfect for our one night stay. 

We went to dinner at the only restaurant in Hana called the Hana Ranch restaurant. It was surprisingly really expensive. I think that was the most we had spent on dinner our whole time we have been here. My Parmesan Chicken was actually really good. The veggies were cooked perfect. But I didn't think is was $25 worthy. Jesse wasn't too thrilled with his $23 Pork Quesadilla.

After dinner we headed back to our place, showered and went to bed. We were beat!