On Saturday, Josh and I decided to do the road to Hana, which is an entire day trip (we left around 7:00 a.m.). Our first few stops were Upper Puohokamoa Falls, Haipua`ena Falls and Lower Puohokamoa Falls. We missed Lower Puohokamoa Falls at first, but it was definitely the most impressive waterfall we saw all day at 200 feet. We backtracked about a mile and found the short trail to an incredible view of the impressive falls. The other two falls were beautiful as well, but much shorter.

Beautiful view early in the morning on the start of our trip to Hana.

View of the valley at our first stop.

Old bridge.

Josh on the trail to Upper Puohokamoa Falls.

Upper Puohokamoa Falls.

Stream that Upper Puohokamoa Falls flows in to.

Hana Highway

Gorgeous flowers growing everywhere.

Haipua`ena Falls

Old bridge. Love this picture.

Heliconia..they were growing everywhere along the way to Hana.

Cool shot of fallen petals on the rocks.

More heliconias.

Just breathtaking.

Trail to Lower Puohokamoa Falls.

Lower Puohokamoa Falls.

Incredible! Lower Puohokamoa Falls.

Flowers and trees along the road at our stop to see Lower Puohokamoa Falls.

We continued along the coast and made a variety of stops that included capturing some amazing shots of the Ke`anae Coast, the ribbon of the highway cut into the cliffs and Ching’s Pond. Ching’s Pond was filled with people jumping into it from the bridge along the highway. After watching a few people jump, we continued on and stopped at an adorable stand a few miles down the road called Halfway to Hana for a midmorning snack.

Ke`anae Coast

Hana Highway

Hana Highway

Hana Highway..amazing turn in the road.

Hana Highway cutting along the cliffs.

Ching’s Pond.

Halfway to Hana!

Our treat! I picked this out…Josh had egg salad sandwiches :).

After our snacks, we continued on and stopped near the town of Wailua to check out the views from there. We climbed up some stairs at the Wailua Valley State Wayside and had a beautiful view of the Ko`olau Gap on one side an a great view of the tiny settlement of Wailua on the other side. After that, we drove about a mile and stopped at Upper Waikani Falls (sometimes called Three Bears Falls).

More heliconias

Ko`olau Gap

Coast off of Wailua

Hana Highway

Tiny town of Wailua.

Rocks seeping water at Upper Waikani Falls.

Upper Waikani Falls

Our two stops were Hanawi Falls and Makapipi Falls (seriously so many falls). Makapipi Falls was unique because we stood on the bridge directly over it and could see how it fell into a large pool below. Different than the other waterfalls we had seen that day. Next to Makapipi Falls is Nahiku Road which lead to the community of Nahiku. Everything was so incredibly green and there were tons of beautiful flowers. After driving through the beautiful plants, we came to the end and had a beautiful view of the shoreline all the way to Ke`anae. We took a little path to a small waterfall and a pool that eventually lead to the ocean. After taking in the gorgeous views around us, we headed back up to Hana Highway to continue on.

Hanawi Falls

Standing above Makapipi Falls.

At the end of Nahiku Road. Gorgeous!

Close up of a heliconia.

Small waterfall and pool.

So beautiful!

Love this photo.

It looked like there used to be a bridge over the river here.

Nahiku Road leading away from the shoreline.

Nahiku Road and Hana Highway intersection.

Our next stop was at Coconut Glen’s for some dairy-free ice cream (made from coconut milk). It was sooooo good. We split the coconut ice cream and picked up some of their famous coconut candy. It was an interesting stop…Glen loves Willy Wonka and had decorated in that way…fairly odd but charming. After that, we stopped at Wai`anapanapa Park and explored Pa`iloa Black Sand Beach and found a really cool cave. There was also a sea arch and other lava tube caves to explore, but we didn’t have a flashlight or the time to stop.

Coconut Glen’s sign

More of Coconut Glen’s signs.

Coconut Glen’s ice cream bar/shack.

Coconut Ice Cream. Unbelievably fantastic.

Coconut Candy.

Pa`iloa Black Sand Beach

Pa`iloa Black Sand Beach

Cool cave..the ocean is coming in behind us.

Sea Arch

We left Wai`anapanapa Park and finally made it to Hana! Our first stop in Hana was Hana Bay where tons of locals were swimming. The Pier was closed, but we knew there was a trail to a hidden red sand beach near there. This was probably my favorite part of our Hana trip. The trail leads about 200 yards along Ka`uiki Head that had a plaque at the end of the trail marking the spot near a cave where Ka`ahumanu (King Kamehameha the Great’s favorite wife) was born. It was so unreal to see this plaque in the middle of no where. There was also a small light beacon near the end of the trail and tons of amazing rocks to climb on.

Hana Bay

This log was actually pretty high up…I was practicing my balancing.

Amazing red sand beach.

Along the trail near the red sand beach.

Ka`ahumanu’s plaque.

Cove

Josh on the rock at the end of the trail.

Josh taking a picture of the light beacon.

Light Beacon.

Me on the rock enjoying the magnificent view.

The plaque and it’s surroundings.

Hana Pier

After we hiked back to the car at Hana Bay, we headed to Red Sand Beach (Kaihalulu). The trail to the beach was on the side of a hill and was a bit rough in a few places, but nothing too difficult (much easier than the trail to the other red sand beach). This beach was much larger and there were people laying out, relaxing and enjoying the views. At the beginning of the trail to the beach, there is an ancient Japanese cemetery that was pretty interesting to see.

Trail to the red sand beach.

Kaihalulu Red Sand Beach.

Treacherous rocks near the beach.

Japanese Cemetery.

After the read sand beach, we headed out of Hana into Southeast Maui and stopped at (no surprise here!) Wailua Falls…yet another beautiful waterfall. Then we continued on to ‘Ohe’o Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools) where you can sometimes swim and enjoy the multiple waterfalls right by the ocean. They were closed to the public that day because it was raining, but they were still beautiful from up above!

Wailua Falls

‘Ohe’o Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools)

The road becomes a bit more narrow and less paved….

Waterfall flowing into the ocean from afar.

After this, the landscape changed drastically from rainforest and incredibly lush to dry and desolate. Very different, but still very pretty. We drove all the way around Southeast Maui and continued into upcountry and back through Kahului. We stopped and had a MUCH anticipated dinner (our first real meal for the day) at Buzz’s Wharf. We were both starving and VERY ready to be out of the car! The Road to Hana definitely lived up to it’s amazing reputation. I’m sure we missed so many things along the way, but what we did get to stop at and enjoy was phenomenal.

Southeast Maui

Road in Southeast Maui

Rainbow over the ocean! LOVE this picture.

Our view from our table at Buzz’s.

Clam Chowder

Snapper (my dinner).

Steak and prawns (Josh’s dinner).