Passing through the hillside along Kula down toward the ocean was pretty cool. Nice hilly and slightly windy road through the foothills of Haleakala. The Kaupo area was nice to visit but before that was at least a half hour of driving through some bumpy gravely road. I'm not really sure if you are allowed to take the rental car through there. But the van handled like a champ. We named our van Bessie that day. We saw the rugged dry land coast with newly constructed windmill farms. I was quite in shock because just a year ago they weren't there. One of the coolest things along the way to the Kaupo store was the Wiliwili trees. They actually had leaves but weren't flowering just yet.
We hit the Kaupo General Store around 8 am and they were closed. We kept driving for another 10 miles or so and hit Kipahulu. This was one of the most scenic parts of the drive. The scene changed into a lush forest carved in and out of valleys. The road would sometimes drop down to sea level and there would be beach access to some rocky beaches. We passed those and headed into Kipahulu.
We reached Haleakala National Park pulled up to the booth and paid our $10 fee to park there. We had access the the National Park for 3 days. I decided that we should check out Seven Sacred Pools first so that we could get the pools all to ourselves. We hiked down and everyone seemed to split up. They all were either climbing or jumping into the big pool or just chilling and watching the waterfall. It seemed like Disney Land but natural. I decided to try my best to take pictures of the pools but the sun had already risen and was making for some horrible lighting. I hiked up to the second waterfall and climbed up behind it to relax. Keahi was already there just chilling. Katie Dural and Matt followed suit and we all were playing and jumping off of waterfalls.
After 2 hours or so chilling at the pools and losing gopros, we decided to take a hike up to Waimoku Falls. Making stops to check out dry Makahiku I wasn't crossing my fingers for Waimoku Falls to be flowing really good. We also stopped at the Banyan tree to take a break and pictures. We came to the first bridge and supposedly you can launch off this one. We just had to look for the "X" in the bridge but we couldn't find any. We continued on to the second bridge and into the bamboo forest. The bamboo forest would probably be the second best thing on this trail but I actually found another waterfall and not only Waimoku. When we got to Waimoku there literally was a line of people to take pictures under the waterfall. I decided to take our shots a little further away and luckily my camera could capture the waterfall top to bottom. This was the third time that I visited this fall and probably the tallest waterfall I have ever seen in my life. We made our way back down the trail a little and followed a faint trail to another waterfall not too far away. We had to climb a small waterfall and then wade across a pool. After the pool we saw our new waterfall that I was itching to see. I've always wanted to see this falls ever since the first time I visited Waimoku Falls. I set up my tripod and camera to capture this empty waterfall scene. To get to the base of the waterfall we had to climb one last waterfall below it. The waterfall came off the cliff as a single falls and hit a ledge in the face of the cliff making the stream of water come down in two different spots into a fairly large pool. I'd definitely check this falls out again instead of Waimoku just because it's not crowded and you can find solitude here.
We made our way back to our cars and it was mid afternoon. We chowed down on some cold cut sandwiches in the car with some chips. Our next stop was our vacation home rental. The home was just south of Hana and luckily was only half an hour away. We met our contact for the house and settled in. Unloaded a bunch of stuff from the van. We were exhausted from the day's adventures. The house had a lot of mosquitoes so Keahi, Katie, and I decided to take a drive out to the only general store in Hana called Hasegawa General Store. We found mosquito candles and some snacks for the house. Before we went home we drove around to see what was in the area of the house. We passed near the coast line and found Koki beach and Hamoa Beach. I heard both these beaches had waves so I wanted to go but, not today. When we got back home we showered, some went to the coast line across the street, and I decided to make dinner for the group. We had spaghetti and what ever else we could find that was in our chest full of food. Keahi bought us some apple pie and some vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.
Tomorrow was the biggest day full of adventure. We had friends coming down to Maui from Oahu to show us two different gems on the Hana side of the island.
Like I said the drive from the Kula way into Hana is beautiful!
The road doesn't stay like this the whole way. It gets really bumpy!
Enjoying the view below Haleakala
One waterfall above where most people stay. Gotta climb or contour on the right side to get here.
Below the falls.
On our way to Waimoku Falls we got to sit in a giant bamboo tree. Small kind shakes with the camera but wouldn't have been a perfect picture!
Taking pictures was difficult with the harsh contrast of the canopy light coming through.
Gopro shot in the bamboo forest.
Group shot at Waimoku Falls
Couples shot below the falls. There was a line of tourist to take this shot.
Check it out!
No name falls. If anyone knows the name of this falls please message me.
Maui 2013 from Ryan Chang on Vimeo.
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