At the beginning of the road to Hana we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach Park to watch the waves and surfers.
Quite by accident we stumbled on a small grove of Rainbow Eucalyptus... it was gorgeous!
Are these the berries of the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree? They were right next to it.
I had to stop to shoot several photos of the foliage... it was so unusual. Interesting textures.
The road to Hana is about 53 miles... which sounds not too far. Except we counted over 60 bridges on this highway to Hana... and 90 per cent of them were single lane traffic!
This greatly reduces the average travel speed down to about 20 miles an hour! After stopping for a picnic at Hana Bay, we didn't get to the trail head to start the hike up to the falls until 2:00 pm.
The first section had a lot of roots in the trail...
It didn't take very long to get to the first falls, the Makahiku Falls... howbeit they were basically dry today. Their name means, "Water that recognizes no friend."
Hence the sign that warns everyone to stay away from the dangerous edge and not try anything stupid.
The foliage around the falls was very lush and green.
There were a couple of bridges... excellent bridges...
with good views of the stream coming down the canyon. So we were optimistic that we would see water in the 400-foot Waimoku Falls.
Without a doubt the last mile of the hike to the falls thru a bamboo forest was the highlight of the day. It was gorgeous canopy to walk thru.
The bamboo was 30 to 40 feet tall...
and when the wind rustled thru the bamboo it was like a symphony! The bamboo stalks would strike each other and and the noise was like the beginning of a hail storm on a barn roof. Really cool sound!
There were places where they made really nice steps... with handrails.
And where the ground was soggy they put in boardwalks... really a joy to walk on.
The Waimoku Falls were a great reward! It wasn't at peak water level... but it was impressive. It was really a tall free-fall pretty straight down.
It would be really cool to be here after some serious rainfall.
We got back to the Jeep by 4 pm and it was a bit of Daytona 500 trip back to Kahului to catch a red-eye special home later that evening.
I stopped at the Haleakala Park Visitor Centre as we were leaving and I asked the name of these colourful flowers on the tall trees. They said they were African Tulip trees.
They were so plentiful we had to stop and shoot a few pictures of them.
There was this fence that begged us to take a photo. Where else do you ever see a fence made out of surf boards? This is just a small section of a fence about 150 feet long... maybe 80 old surf boards!
I think I slept most of flight back to Phoenix... had a great seat in the exit row. As the plane was on the descent I woke up and took a lot of shots. Thru them all away except the first one.
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." -Edward Abbey
that bamboo forest looks very cool. next trip to maui will check it out. bet you stopped at a lot of scenic turnouts on that trip, eh?
ReplyDeleteWe did stop quite a lot... one of the luxuries of travelling with Shirley... as she likes to capture photos along the journey.
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