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| on our lanai |
Two Weeks on Maui
This could be our last trip
to Hawaii, since the frequent flyer miles and hotel points are about gone. But then,
I've said those words before...
The first thing to know
about Maui is that it isn't called the “Valley Isle” for nothing. There are two
mountains, one an extinct volcano, the other a dormant one, connected by a low
piece of land, and all this makes up the entire island. We decided to explore
those mountains as much as possible during our visit. This time it would be two
weeks on Maui, as the Wailea Marriott made us a points offer we couldn't refuse.
Wailea is a fancy-schmancy area with expensive resorts, fine dining and fabulous
beaches.
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| dinner at Duke's |
After shopping at Safeway
for our breakfast, lunch and wine needs, we met up with our local friend Rita Cognion
and drove up to Kaanapali. There we met visiting Dead Runners Tom and Debbie (who
was celebrating a birthday), and Tom's local cousin Mary Jo. We had a nice get together
at Duke's, and afterwards as well.
Much later in our stay we
met up with Rita once again. This time it was her local running group's Wednesday
evening run, followed by pizza and beer at Pizza Madness. Good name for the place.
And fun too.
Early on we did a short
hike. We had done the King's Highway trail through La Perouse Bay - something we'd
done on previous trips, and we did it again. It's a bit difficult walking over the
rocky/uneven lava. But there are some great views of the ocean, Kahoolawie, West
Maui, etc. We also saw some wild goats in some of the wooded parts.
Polipoli
One place that we hadn't been
to for previous trips is Polipoli State park, which is situated a good way up Haleakala
- between the 5,000 and 6,000 foot level. Haleakala is the massive dormant volcano
that makes up eastern Maui, and our resort area of Wailea is at its base. (West
Maui, by the way, consists of a different mountain called – how’s this for originality
- West Maui.)
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| the redwoods |
Polipoli Park is a little
ways from the main road up to the summit. The route was extremely narrow, bumpy
and winding with at least 5,000 switchbacks. I know this because I counted the times
Debbie screamed.
Once there we had the entire
park to ourselves. We took the 5-mile route of hilly trails. This was a grand hike
through forests of various tall trees, including some statuesque redwoods that had
been planted 80 to 90 years ago. They're HUGE now. The area reminded us of northern
California. What a wonderful hike - strenuous, but wonderful.
Some Non-Hikes
Since the weather wasn't the
greatest, and since Debbie wasn't 100%, we spent a few of our early vacation days
close to home. We still managed to get plenty of walking in - on the beach walk
along the shore here, and also in Lahaina, Kihei and other areas.
Debbie actually needed
medical care at the Kihei Urgent Care Clinic. She received excellent care and
was fine. We missed a group run and pizza that night, but made up for that on a
later occasion.
On a tip from Tom, one of
the Dead Runners we met the other day, I emailed the owner of Enchanting Floral
Gardens, a botanical garden in upcountry Kula. The garden was closed for renovation,
but through the email I learned that we would still be allowed to tour the place.
It was enchanting indeed and well worth the price of admission (which as zilch).
Here’s another case of, we
had done this one before, and now we've done it again. After lunch at Ba Le, which
is in a food court, but is where all the Kahului locals go because of the good Asian
French food in huge portions, we drove all the way to Kaanapali for yet another
Marriott time share presentation at the old Maui Marriott. It was quite pleasant
- of course we said no - and we got 30,000 points out for the deal.
Pipiwai
This is one of the most popular
hiking trails on Maui for a very good reason: it's one of the very best here or
anywhere. It's two miles each way along a stream, beginning at Oheo Gulch. Although
there are tougher hikes, this one certainly isn't easy. These are plenty of rocks
(some of which were quite slippery in the rain) and stone steps to deal with, as
the outbound route raises 600 - 800 feet. Along the way there are some great views
of the gulch, stream and pools (this is the area formerly known as the Seven Sacred
Pools - until they figured out that there aren't seven, and they aren't sacred).
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| the bamboo forest |
One of the highlights is the
portion of the trail that goes through the bamboo forest. There is nothing to prepare
you for this; it's unlike any other outdoor / hiking experience you'd have almost
anywhere. It's deep, dark, and somehow primevil - there's no other plant or animal
for maybe 3/4 mile - only this weird bamboo.
The highlight of highlights,
however is the waterfall at the end of the trail. Waimoku Falls is 400 feet high
down a sheer cliff- a real payoff for hiking this far.
The trip back down the trail
was a little easier. Now all we had to do was drive back to the hotel. The drive
here had been beautiful, but arduous. We had taken the windswept route around the
southern part of the island. The condition of the road is ludicrously bad, leading,
once again, to shaken wife syndrome. Thinking that the northern route - the famous
'Road to Hana' couldn't possibly be any tougher, and that it would have to be faster
than 2 1/2 hours it took us to get here, off we went to the north and west - backward
on the Road to Hana.
It was long and arduous as
well, and this way took us three hours. Someone please remind me that the joy is
in the journey.
Sliding Sands
The Lady Adventurer and I
were fairly beat up after Pipiwai, especially those of us who are running a lot
too. But to take advantage of the really great weather, we found ourselves driving
up to the top of Haleakala for another hike the very next day.
The road leading to the mountain
is yet another killer, with zillions of switchbacks and hairpin turns. At least
this road is wide enough that, as long as you stay in your lane, you have a fairly
decent chance of not going over the edge. My favorite sign was, 'Slow Down When
Driving through Clouds' - something one wouldn't see in Ohio.
Just before reaching the top,
we stopped for a short hike to the Leleiwi lookout. There was a great view looking
down at West Maui, and at Lanai further away. Then we rounded a corner and were
treated to an awesome view of Haleakala Crater. Here there's a unique viewpoint
- different from that at the top.
Soon we reached the summit.
We could see the crater, of course, but also surrounding areas, including the summits
of the Big Island 100 miles away. Having been here at the top a couple time in the
past, we'd dressed for the anticipated cold temperature here at 10,000 feet. But
what we weren't prepared for was the wind. It felt like gale-force, and made for
a bone-chilling wind-chill.
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| the Sliding Sands Trail |
Even though we'd been here
(once just before a bike trip down), we had never before hiked down into the crater.
This time we did, heading down the Sliding Sands Trail. It was tough to catch one's
breath at this elevation, and our Lady Adventurer was not having an easy time of
it. But we did walk nearly 40 minutes down, before we decided to turn around and
go back up. The trail would have taken us 4 miles one way had we continued to the
end. It connects up to other trails as well. Unless you can arrange other transportation,
however far down you go is the distance that you have to come back up.
Did I mention that the Sliding
Sands Tail is as awesome as they come? It is utterly fantastic, with other-worldly
views of the crater the entire way. And even though nothing grows there, the ever
changing landscape is fantastical. I'm sure there are colors here that are found
nowhere else.
Our climb back out of the crater was slow, but not
as bad as anticipated.I thoroughly enjoyed every step of this hike. I think Debbie
did too, but she's still catching her breath.
Waihe'e Ridge
I want to say that this is
the hike to end all hikes, but then I may have said this before somewhere. Perhaps...
but this one is something. The trailhead is in West Maui past Wailuku. It leads
up. That's up as in, up into the clouds, because that's where we were to wind up.
About a mile into the 2.5
mile (each way) trail, we were treated to the most marvelous scenery imaginable.
We could see the entire valley, and beyond that, Wailuku, Kahului and Haleakala
in succession. And then all we had to do was look the other way (the ridge as very
narrow in parts), to spot equally gorgeous views of the hills, valley and shoreline
of northwest Maui.
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| up into the clouds - that's Debbie up there |
Those great views kept getting
better until we got into the clouds around the 1.5 to 2 mile mark. Climbing into
those ever-thickening clouds was a surreal experience. Yes, it would have been nice
to continue seeing the sights, but, as I like to say, this was something. There
was, for sure, some joy in this journey.
The walk back down was also
something - coming out of the cloud, we could see once again, and once again, it
was truly beautiful.
It was also tough. Naturally
we could move faster going down, but it was tough on the 'ole knees. All four of
them. In fact, Debbie and I both wound up with achy, slightly sprained knees. Debbie
is wondering if she will recover... Ever.
Around the Head
Some of us think that the
shape of Maui is that of a bust of a woman, viewed side-on. In order to not leave
any part un-traversed, we'd need to drive around the 'head'. We had done this before
- it's not for the faint-hearted. There are miles of one-lane roads, mostly going
along the side of cliffs. It's sort of like the best of the ride to Hana- both northern
and southern routes, in a slightly smaller package.
There were high wind warnings
the day we did it. And this is the windiest part of the island. We were a bit worried
that our Vespa would blow right off the side of the cliff.
And then there was our little
hike up there - the Ohai Trail. This trail was shorter and easier than others, but
boy was it windy in spots. There were some great views of the nearby seashore and
cliffs.
Lahaina Pali
No, THIS was the hike to end all hikes. Hands down. And
it was also the windiest. Hands way down.
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| Debbie and Rita at the start of the hike |
Pali means cliffs, so you
know this is going to be a good one. The only itsy bitsy little caveat is that perhaps
we should have paid a slight amount of attention to the day’s 'high wind advisory'.
We didn't, figuring those kinds of warnings were for 'other people'.
We met Rita at the finish
just past the tunnel going towards Lahaina. We left one car there and proceeded
to drive around to the other side in order to begin the hike. When I tried to get
out of the car, I wasn't able to close the door due to the wind. I mean I really
couldn't close it at all. This should have been a second warning.
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| a rare un-windy spot |
Nothing – not even the strong wind we experienced on other
hikes during recent days – could prepare us for this one. We really should have
not started it in those conditions, but once we were committed, we were
committed. And we didn’t consider the possibility that the winds would actually
increase the higher we got.
We certainly did get high. I believe we summited at around
1,600 feet of elevation, right about where the windmill farm is. The wind was
incredible at that point. Without our hiking poles we would’ve been blown clear
off the mountain. Maybe right into the ocean!
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| the wind farm |
The entire route is through open, extremely dry country. The
scenery is stark, but fantastically beautiful. We could see much of the island
from the trail – Haleakala, Kihei and Wailea, Maalea and most of the valley,
and also Molokini, Kahoolawe and Lanai.
The going was also difficult due to bad footing on the rocky
trail. It wasn’t any easier (or safer) going down the other side of the ridge.
The winds still howled, pushing us the entire trip. Only for the last half mile
did they subside a little.
I think that Rita, Debbie and I all had a wonderful time,
but I also think we were relieved to arrive at our destination without any
major mishaps, given the conditions. A mishap here could well have taken the
joy out of the journey.
And That Was About It
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| sunset from our lanai |
Two great weeks in Maui. We violated the terms of our car rental agreement in every way possible, without actually damaging the car. This, by going to places where we were explicitly forbidden.
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| on the beach at sunset |
How to top this one? Hmmm.
To read about my running on Maui, see my Maui Meanderings Blog Post.
And you may also want to read about how Rita Cognion Tried to Kill Me.
To read about my running on Maui, see my Maui Meanderings Blog Post.
And you may also want to read about how Rita Cognion Tried to Kill Me.
