Hana the rain forest

Hana was absolutely beautiful. It was my first trip to a rainforest. It is a good 3 hour drive from Lahaina. One and a half hours are treveled over a curvy raod that is only wide enough for a car and a half. The bridges are only wide enough for one car. It is the curviest road I have ever been on. It has over 500 sharp curves and 50 single lane bridges. Some of the curves are blind, so you have to honk your car horn as you are approaching the curve to alert people that a car is coming.

We camped at Haleakala National Park at Kipahulu. The camp ground is located on a rocky cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean (south east side of Maui.) The seven pools in Oheo was only about a 5 minute hike. The fresh water from Haleakala (the highest mountain on Maui) runs down the mountain and into the ocean. On the way down, the water has created some magnificent water falls and fresh water pools. While it is called 7 pools – there are actually more than 7 pools. This is a picture of the bottom 3 pools with the one lane bridge at the top:

Our first day at camp, we went to the bottom 3 pools and did some swimming. Walking on the lava rocks is a challenge. The only way I was able to walk was with my Teva’s on. It sure did make a difference and helped to absorb some of the pain that is incurred when walking barefoot.

After a swim in the cold water, we decided to go hiking. It was a 1.8 mile hike through the rainforest across varying terrain. You pass all of the pools that are above the bridge on the trail. We came across a bamboo forest on the trail. The height and thickness of the bamboo was incredible. It grows so straight, and blocks out about 90% of the daylight, but we did find some good walking sticks to help on the trail.

While we were hiking on the way up, I wondered what the end of the trail was. What were we hiking to? I think it took about 1 and a half to 2 hours to reach the end of the trail. It was a waterfall! We had reached Waimoku Falls! It was a 400 fot water fall. It was the first time I had seen a waterfall that close. It was the first time I had seen such a BIG waterfall (I guess I should clarify that – I have seen Niagara – so it was the biggest waterfall in Hawaii I had seen.) The temperature was about 15-20 degrees cooler than when we started the hike. We hiked up hill almost the entire way. We took a short break to cool down and enjoy the beauty of the falls. The hike back was a heck of a lot easier. Downhill and we knew the path, so it was not too bad. It was still quite a hike and I could feel it in my legs, but the beautiful Waimoku Falls made it all worth it. Here is a picture of the falls:

It turns out that I am a snorer – and a loud one at that. Paul and Eric were my tent-mates – and I snored so loud that they did not sleep at all. They got up (well, actually they were already up) and went to watch the sunrise. I decided to get some more Zzz’s. After the sunrise, they same back and slept for about an hour. I woke up to Eric proclaiming that he going to walk to the country store in Hana. I knew it was 30 minutes by car, so I decided I would get up since he was so determined to get some food. We went to the store and ran into the Hippies that we had met the day before at the store. We decided to meet up at Red Sand Beach later in the day.

We went back to camp and went for a dip in the fresh water pools. We looked for Shari – our other house mate, but could not find her. We decided to go out do some more exploring of Hana and while waiting for traffic to pass at a one lane bridge, we spotted her and Eric yelled out her name. Turns out she had hitch hiked to the store and was on the way back. She was carrying an 18 pack of beer and a nice tourist couple had picked her up and gave her a ride for a beer. It is amazing what 1 beer can get you…

We went to Red Sand Beach. It is not marked, and you have to walk through a school to get to the trail. The trail is basically on the side of the ocean with cliffs that go up and down. It is not a bad hike, but it does pay to have 3 points of contact at certain points on the trail. We rounded a cliff and saw the beach. It was the first time I had seen a red sand beach (actually it was more like tiny rocks.) It was beautiful. We made it down the trail and were greeted by our hippie friends that we had met. One of the hippie guys was naked. No one had mentioned it was a clothing optional beach, but no biggie. If he wanted to walk around naked on the beach, then good for him – but I sure was glad when he put his clothes on. We settled in and then went snorkeling. It is a protected cove, but the water was stilla little rough because outside of the rocks that were protecting the cove, the ocean was rough. There was not much to see while snorkeling. One piece of coral and some fish – but nothing of any significant size.

Paul and I went back to the beach and had a beverage, while I happened to look over and see a breast. Sweet! The naked beach is much nicer when you are looking at breast rather than balls. The naked girl got up and got in the water. It was then obvious that she was pregnant. Now I hope you all do not take this the wrong way – but I think pregnant chicks are hot. There is just something about them that is sexy. So I stared at here the rest of the day.

Now I got a kick out of several things while there. The first was the father that was playing with his son that talked to the naked chick for at least 30 minutes. I especially liked when she started putting on sunscreen. I waited and waited for her to apply it to her breast. She waited until her conversation was over with the father and his son. Then she did it. I think the anticipation was better, but I still enjoyed it:)

The other thing I got a kick out of was when the little kid broke his little pink bucket that he had been putting water in. When he broke it, he started crying immediately. Daddy fixed it almost right away, but he continued to cry. I miss the simple days that all you cared about was playing and if the toy broke, you got so upset you started crying. Ahh, the good old days. Kids have a way of making us grown ups appreciate the little things in life.

The next stop was Black Sand Beach at Wainapanapa State Park. We went to the fresh water caves first. The fresh water comes directly out of the mountain and fills a little cave. I was the last to jump in. It is supposedly the coldest water on the island and I was a little hesitant, but I finally jumped off a 5 foot rock into the 7 feet of fresh water. It was COLD!!! There was a little cave that you could swim into. It was amazing. It was the whole reason I jumped in. Being in the cave and looking out into the main pool with the sun was cool. The one down side was it really smelled in the cave, it smelled like farts – and lots of them – so I did not stay in the cave too long.

Our next stop was at black sand beach. There was a little cave off the beach, so we went in and then climbed out of a blowhole in the cave. Here are some pictures from the cave:

It was a beautiful day. I saw so many sights – so many different beaches. After we made it back to camp, we went to Shari’s front yard. She set up camp down the path over looking the cliffs and ocean. It was cloudy, so I could not see the sun set over the mountains – but I did manage to see Venus set over the mountains after the sun went down. The colors in the sky were pretty – so many pinks and blues.

Here are my camping friends: (L to R) Eric, Me, Shari and Paul:

You learn so many things about people when you are camping. I am not a big camper – this was only the second time I had been – but I made it through it and I am glad I went. It was a great experience. Hana was beautiful. The waterfalls were beautiful. The pools were beautiful. Red and Black Sand beach were beautiful. Another beautiful couple of days in paradise:)