King's highway to unnamed beach! :)

So Sunday was the first day that both Justin and I had the same day off in forever. I definitely wanted to do something active, mostly because I've been a lazy ass recently. So we chose an adventure out of the guide book! The book warned that the hike was pretty awful, but the views, and the pretty private beach you get to at the end is worth it.

So we headed off to Makena! Its only 10 or so miles from our apartment. And, its at the end of the road for this side of Maui. Once you hit La Perouse Bay, you literally have no road left to drive.

So we parked, got out, and hiked along the coast.  1/2 a mile along,  the trail moves onto a trail made entirely of crushed lava rock.  (Hence why I am SOOO sore today.)  At some points, the rock was small, so it made the hike easy.  And at other points, you are literally boulder hoping.  Haha, so awesome.  You follow the trail for another 1.5 miles until you get to a beacon.  The point at the beacon was CRAZY windy, and I could feel the windy literally blowing me over at times.

From the beacon, its another mile to the beach.  You have to "follow" a trail that is marked with pieces of coral.  The coral trail leads you up to the King's highway, and from there, it was only another 10 minutes or so before we hit the spur trail to the beach. 

The King's highway, also known as Hoapili Trail, was created in the 1700's to transport the Kings of the island to the rural fishing villages on the coast.  It was also used to move cattle.  All of the guides I've read online said this trail is specially an advanced trail and not for amateurs.  I felt pretty good reading that, though my feet, ankles, and knees are killing me today.  Apparently hiking on lava rock is hard!  :)  The trail continues to another beach that is easier to get to and not nearly as secluded.  Another hiking day?  :)

As for the beach itself, I was pretty disappointed.  The guide book said that its usually a pristine beach, UNLESS there has been heavy storms or rains.  And of course, last week there was major flooding around the islands and huge storms.  So the water was rough, and not very clear.  Justin went out with this snorkel gear, but said he couldn't see much.  I didn't head into the water at all, because the water crashed pretty much right into the lava rocks on the beach, and I'm pretty clutzy as it is.  :)  Haha, so I didn't get in.  But that's okay.  The hike was very pretty, and very adventurous, and the beach was beautiful!

I tried to put the pictures in order, so they make sense with the narration I wrote about.  :)

Where we were!  The end of the road to Makena

The ocean is right next to the road! Crazy!

Hello ocean!

Driving through the lava field

A mini beach as we hiked along the coast

A mini spouting horn!

Hiking along the coast

Got to the top of the beacon!  You can see Kahoolawe behind us.
No one actually lives there though, due to lack of fresh water.

Olivine pools--too bad you can't swim in them!

The guide book said to get to the beach, you should follow the trail marked with coral.
And sure enough, there it was!

Smiling in the wind!

Another olivine pool

Justin was like, "Honey, go stand next to the cave."  Haha.

One of the pieces of coral.  I thought it was so pretty!

Stripped down to my swimsuit to cool off!

We made it to the beach!  Totally empty!

The tide was really high, so there was hardly any sand to sit on

View of the beach from the top of the lava rocks

Finally saw a goat!  On the way out.