On Sunday, Justin and I decided to travel the lengths of the Hana Highway. We've been here 5 months now, and I realized that I still haven't been past where we were living in Haiku, and that I haven't visited the far away town of Hana!
The cool thing about this excursion is getting there. Hana itself is a small town, and doesn't exactly have a lot to offer. But, the road to Hana is filled with beauty, waterfalls, hikes, views, and other miscellaneous amazingness. :)
Justin drove the whole way, and I actually managed to not get car sick! (Dramamine also helped!). I flipped through the guide book the night before, and picked several points to stop along the way. I packed us a lunch, and we were off. To avoid super amounts of traffic, it is suggested that you be heading out of Kahului by 8 AM. We made it out by 7:35! :) (If you know me at all, that is amazing by itself...haha.)
Here is my list of stops along the way--we stopped at nearly all of them. :) One we couldn't find, and another we skipped due to time constraints.
- Lower Puohokamoa Falls- 8/10 mile past mile 10.
- Views of Honomanu Bay- ½ mile past mile 14
- Ching’s Pond- Right after mile 17
- Wailua Valley Stateside- Right before mile 19
- Wailua Iki waterfall & Valley- 3/10 mile past mile 21
Lava Cave- 2 turnouts after mile 23- Makapipi Falls- Farside of the bridge past mile 25
- Nahiku Road- right after Makapipi Falls bridge
- Wai’anapanapa Park- Just past mile 32
- Red Sand Beach- Park on Uakea & Havoli, walk past the second lamppost on the lawn
Venus Pool- Just past mile 48- Seven Sacred Pools- Lots past mile 32
- Infinity Pool + Pipiwai Trail- Above 7 Sacred Pools
Before we even made it to the first sight on my list, we were already encountering beautiful waterfalls! It was raining on and off most of the day, which meant all the waterfalls were GUSHING!
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Lower Puohokamoa Falls- 8/10 mile past mile 10
Lower Puohokamoa Falls are actually underneath the Hana Highway. In order to see them, you have to stop before you’re actually near them, and admire them from a distance. The viewing point is not marked, and actually had a busted wire fence with a “No Trespassing” sign falling off of it…haha. The views were gorgeous! Upper Puohomkamoa Falls can only be seen from inside The Garden of Eden—and entrance into said garden is 15 bucks a person. Psshhhh…
The next vantage point we stopped at gave us a view of Honomanu Bay, as well as the highway ribboning along the mountainside. In the hills above the bay and the road are several ancient Hawaiian burial sites. Hawaiians today do not go near them though—too much bad juju and evil spirits.
Ching's Pond- Right after mile marker 17
Ching's Pond is a freshwater pond located under a bridge in the town of Ke'anae. It is supposed to be a fantastic place to swim, but due to all the rain that we were experiencing, the stream that runs through the pond was rushing instead of trickling. If you look at the picture on the right, there is a little space right at the beginning of the bridge where apparently people jump from. According to my guide book, the drop is 25 feet down, and has literally no margin of error. Unfortunately, no one was risking their lives while we were there. :)
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| He wasn't smiling in any other pictures, so I kissed him! :) |
Next stopppp....
Wailua Valley Stateside- Parking lot before mile marker 19
From this cute little viewpoint, we got 2 amazing views! On the ocean side, we could see the town of Wailua, complete with taro fields. If you turned around and looked mountain side, the Wailua Valley complete with 2 awesome waterfalls came into view. :) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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