Touchdown in Kahului and a taxi ride later, we were settled in to our place in Paia and on the prowl for dinner. We got our first taste of Maui's traffic instead with the little bohemian town going bumpa-da-bumpa through an otherwise handmade-bikini-boutique-choked main street. When we did finally have the opportunity to cross the street, we chose a funky Western-style place that apparently is frequented by none other than Willie Nelson, (although we didn't see him). After stocking up on provisions at the well-stocked health food store, scrounging camping stove fuel from a nearby hostel, and putting our bikes together in the dark, we went to bed more or less ready to launch the next pedal-powered portion of the journey the next morning.
We were anticipating the famous "Road to Hana" with so much excitement that it was relatively easy to get an early start on the day
. It was a good thing since pretty quickly we settled in an exhilarating rhythm of climbing around bends reaching out toward the ocean, then swooping downhill back towards ravines cut by the obligatory waterfall and adorned with a single-lane bridge. In fact, there are about 620 curves and 56 bridges on this "highway," not that we counted for ourselves. On the downhill sections, we were often braking for caravans of convertibles in front of us as they negotiated the tight turns while videoing at the same time.
While the landscape was simply awesome to experience from a bike seat, there were plenty of temptations to get off the bike too. We cooled off in the pools below several waterfalls along the way, compared loaves of banana bread from roadside stands to determine which one was truly "da best," and of course stopped at numerous pull-outs and parks to take in the views. The weather could not have been better for this special ride.
Our first night out we camped on the grounds of a YMCA camp and we had the place completely to ourselves, not even the caretaker was there! The second day, we cruised through Hana, the only concentration of civilization on this end of the island, to the Kipahulu section of Haleakala National Park. Again, we set up camp on bluffs overlooking the ocean, then wandered over to 'Ohe'o Gulch for a skinny dip in the dark. While that was refreshing, we knew we would have to return the next morning to see the series of gentle cascades and pools forming a staircase to the ocean in the daylight.
Wowi we're in Maui!
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Paia, Hawaii, United States
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2025-02-08
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Jen
2012-11-27
oh phew! I was getting worried I'd seen the last of Hawaiian Kohn bicycling adventures. glad they're still coming and still happily reading 'em :)