Yesterday, we drove the Road to Hana to do some hiking and
admire the vast nature Hawaii has to offer. It was an early start as we were
all in the cars and driving by 6:15 am. The drive to the actual hiking trail was
about three hours long through some of the craziest roads I’ve ever seen. The
Road to Hana should really be called the Half-a-Road to Hana as it was one of
the narrowest highways we’ve driven on for a road trip. There were many tight
turns and even points where only one car could drive a portion while the opposite
lane waited for the car to go past them. I don’t think mom drove faster than 20
mph at most throughout the entire drive on the road. I tip my hat to her for
impressive driving skills navigating through the continuously narrowing road
that I certainly wouldn’t have driven a go-kart on. If the Road to Hana wasn’t
crazy enough, some of the drivers on the road were even more so. One driver
that stood out was one driving a yellow pickup truck speeding past our single
lane and unsuccessfully trying to maneuver past a delivery truck that was
already halfway onto a one car lane bridge (with passengers in the truck’s bed
no less). After a long and slightly frightening ride, we made it to our hiking
destination around 9 am.
We took a two mile, one-way, hike to a waterfall whose name
escapes me (please refer to my mother’s blog post). Before we started the hike,
we walked down to see the natural pools formed by the waterfalls and shoreline.
We’d hoped to swim in them, but they were closed due to some flooding cause by
earlier rainfall. Alas, we started our hike to the big waterfall. The trail was
a bit muddy in places and had a few flights of stairs to walk up (mom’s
favorite). Along the way, we saw a few other waterfalls and took a group photo
next to large tree similar to the Banyan tree mentioned in an earlier blog
post. Part of the hike was through a bamboo forest with varying thickness and
heights of bamboo. Besides looking cool, the bamboo also provided cool shade
from the sun. Afterwards, we made it to the big waterfall, which reminded me of
Yosemite Falls due to its height. After some pictures, we headed back down the
trail to eat some lunch.
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| Hiking up the trail |
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| A waterfall, but not the waterfall |
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| Bamboo |
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| The Waterfall |
Lunch was deli sandwiches and we got back on the road after we
packed the leftovers. The drive back was just as long as the drive there. We
were all pretty tired from the hike and returned to the villa in the late
afternoon. Dinner was carne asada and it was delicious. Today, we do a bike
ride down from Haleakala Park. We are leaving at 2 am in the morning to see the
sunrise, so apparently sleep really isn’t a part of vacation.
To read a different perspective of today’s
events, you can read my mom’s blog here.
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