Me, Mom and the Road to Hana

We decided to take my little sister’s advice and have someone else drive us along the road to Hana. We were very glad we did. There are over 600 hairpin turns and 50+ one lane bridges. During most of the drive, there’s the mountain on one side and a steep drop on the other. Often when two cars are approaching each other, whoever has the “widest” part of the highway has to stop so the other car can pass. Cars pass within inches of one another. We brushed mirrors, tires and one car even scraped the side of the mountain trying to pass us. There is no way the driver would get to enjoy the beauty along the way. We saw several waterfalls, although most were rather small, bamboo forests so thick it didn’t even look like bamboo, and even a few mongooses. It truly was a scenic drive. I’m glad I did the scenic drive up the coast in California recently. Had I done it after seeing this scenic drive, I may have been a little disappointed.

The changes in weather were quite amazing as well. We went from beautiful sunny skies to dark low clouds to rain, back to beautiful sunny skies and then rain again. We had nice balmy breezes in some places and then just a few miles up the road we had humidity so thick you could cut it with a knife.

After about 4 ½ hours on the road we stopped for lunch at the Hana Ranch. Then it was on to Haleakala National Park for a quick dip. About 10 miles past Hana, there are pools that are carved from volcanic rock and fed by a stream. The pools are connected by waterfalls. They used to be called the Seven Sacred Pools but are now referred to as the pools of Ohe o Gulch. We hike down the path, ready to jump right in and take a dip in these amazing pools. We were in for a bit of a surprise. Once we got to the pools however, we quickly realized we couldn’t just jump in. You have to climb over rocks to make you’re way into the water. It was quite a treacherous trip and is not done very gracefully by anyone. However we made it! Once you’ve navigated your way through, the water is quite inviting. It was definitely an experience.

All in all in it was a great day. The Traveling Hillbilly was very proud of mom today. She was quite the brave trooper, hiking, navigating the rocks and taking a dip.

Even though the road to Hana is only like 52 miles, it was almost a twelve hour day. Every time we saw a steep drop off, all the Traveling Hillbilly could think of was, is that what the zip line would be like? I must admit it started making me nervous!

Advice: If you ever decide to take the trip, allow yourself a full day to do it and let someone else do the driving. This is probably not the best road for those who get carsick.