The long and winding road

The Beatles may have sung about it but people who visit Maui (or who live here) drive it. Or should I say, them. The most famous is ‘the road to Hana’ but there are a number of others–the drive up to Haleakala, the road out to Makena and La Perouse, the road to Honolua, the drive around the West Maui mountains, even the road to Lahaina. Under the best conditions, each is a terrific driving adventure but rarely can you expect the best conditions. Then, stuck in convoy behind some ‘Nervous Nellie’ riding his brake anytime his speed rises above 15 mph, or a sight-seeing tourist who thinks he has the right to stop on the road to take pictures and who wouldn’t dream of pulling over lest others get past him, it becomes a different experience.
The centerpiece of ‘the road to Hana’ is a thirty-five mile stretch of Highway 360. It’s one lane in each direction with very little (or no) shoulder, very few passing areas, dozens of one-lane bridges where you have to yield to oncoming traffic, and more than 600 curves. We’ve driven this road each time we’ve visited Maui and we’ve stopped at all the usual spots to check out overlooks, visit waterfalls, swim in pools, etc. Usually, we continue on past the normal tourist end points and do a complete loop around Haleakala and back through the Upcountry area. However, that isn’t possible this time because of the earthquake on the Big Island last year and the subsequent landslides on Maui. The road won’t be re-opened for a while so we’ll be doing a down-and-back trip. Our goal is to hike the Pipiwai Trail and check out the waterfalls. Our intent is to drive straight through to the ‘Ohe’o Gulch parking lot without any side trips. Hopefully, we’ll be ahead of the crowd and this should ensure a smooth ride.
We started out on Monday morning but didn’t like the looks of the sky. Lots of cloud everywhere. By the time we’re passing through Pa’ia, I’ve got the windshield wipers on intermittently. With no sign of improving weather (my wipers are now going full time), we pull a U-turn at Ho’okipa Beach and head back for the Wailea area. Incidentally, the weather doesn’t seem a deterrent to the surfers and wind-surfers at Ho’okipa. We settle for snorkeling Mokapu/Ulua again and then catching some rays and walking the beaches. It’s great until the wind picks up shortly before two o’clock and the sand starts blowing. Talk about a mass evacuation.
Tuesday morning looks better so we try again. We’re on the road by seven-thirty but it looks like everybody else has started at six, or else they slept in their cars along the road. I don’t have much traffic in front of me but every waterfall we pass has a full complement of cars and tour buses and, when we reach the parking lot at Haleakala National Park, it’s almost full. And none of these people have passed me as we drove straight through. Maybe they’re all staying in the Hana area.
At least the trail isn’t crowded though there are a surprising number of hikers. The trail’s a little muddy and, therefore, slippery but we have our walking sticks for support and our backpack for our lunch and insect repellent. It’s just over a half-mile to 200 foot Makahiku Falls and just over a mile further to Waimoku Falls, twice as high but less water flow. We cross the river four times, twice on man-made bridges and twice rock-hopping. There’s a lot of water running so there are a number of small waterfalls on both sides of the main falls. We sit at the bottom of Waimoku Falls and eat the first half of our lunch.
Then we backtrack to the ‘infinity pool’ which sits at the top of Makahiku Falls. The park rangers have closed off all pools because of the danger posed by the volume of water so we can only sit at the side of the infinity pool and look out over the lip of the waterfall and listen to its roar. It’s a great setting for the rest of our lunch.
Before leaving the park, we decide to check out the pools at ‘Ohe’o Gulch. When we first saw them in 1971, they were being promoted as “The Seven Sacred Pools” in an attempt to attract tourists. It seems to have worked and the area is now a very popular destination. Of course, there are more than seven pools and there’s nothing sacred about them. But they are very photogenic. Just as we started on the trail, the weather changed for the worst and, within a short time, we were soaked. We’d avoided most of the rainfall while on the Pipiwai Trail because it occurred while we were hiking through the bamboo forest where the overhead foliage is so dense it acts as an umbrella. Not this trail. Nowhere to hide. Doreen was able to change into a dry set of clothing that she’d brought but I lacked her foresight.
Because of the deteriorating weather, we decided to forego further exploration and head back to Kihei. It’s about seventy miles from the Gulch to the condo we’re renting and we were able to drive it in less than three hours. I’m getting too old for this. Thank God for power steering and power brakes. I’m sick of looking at the single brake light on the rear of a rented Mustang. Nobody who drives that slowly should be allowed to rent a Mustang. (I’m driving a 2005 Nissan Sentra.)