Maui Chapter 3 The road to Hana and O'heo

Oct. 9 to 12

Vista on the Road to Hana

We left Mike's house with a warning. He told us that part of the road ahead was a major uphill, totally "brutal." The ride to his house had been relatively flat. We braced ourselves.The road to Hana is spectacular. You can see the ocean, and you ride by banana trees, and the road itself is lined with smushed guavas and orchids. The hills did get brutal. We got into some serious curves, and hills that reminded me of parts of California's Highway 1, between San Francisco and Monterey. I was really dying. Luckily there were tiny little waterfalls running down the cliff next to the road. Every once in awhile I'd stop and soak my bandana in the water and splash it all over my face and neck.

Eric cools offThe hardest part of the ride was all those darned honeymooners. Lots of people honeymoon here, and from our experience watching the road, they all rent red Ford Mustang convertibles. It was hard going up the road with all those clean looking honeymooners going by, enjoying the view without even breaking a sweat.

The top of the hill is Puaa Kaa State Park. When we pulled in, a man asked if I was tired. I guess he had seen us dying on the road. The park was a perfect top of the hill treat. Down a little walkway was a pool with a waterfall at the end. Eric and I jumped in. Our bodies immediately cooled. We felt like we were in paradise.

From there we rode about 8 miles mostly downhill to our campsite Waianapanapa. That was also paradise. That night we hiked in a lava flow overlooking the ocean. The next morning, we went swimming at a black sand beach. The beach I guess was made up of crushed lava. The next morning we rode into Hana just in time to see the very slow beginning of a parade. Dancers in native costume were standing in a central park, while costumed riders on horses trotted around the perimeter in pairs. A very enthusiastic woman yelled out the riders' names into a microphone. Many people seemed too busy eating to notice. We partook in the eating and then rode out of town.

The ride seemed pretty flat but punctuated by a few killer hills. It's only eight miles from Hana to O'heo. But for some reason it seemed really difficult. When we finally arrived all I wanted to do was sleep.

The hard part about camping at O'heo is there is no water. You can buy bottled water at the ranger's station during business hours, but otherwise, you're stuck. Eric and I went to the ranger's station, but the water vendors had left for the day. So went back to the campground, and hiked around a bit on the lava overlooking the ocean.

That night was one of the most unpleasant nights I've spent camping. The campground is basically a large field, and no permits are required. It was a Saturday night. As we tried to sleep, two sets of campers, or possibly two guys in the same group, started screaming and swearing at each other. Every once in awhile, women tried to shush them. But they kept yelling. It reminded me of a time I camped in Hollister, Calif. years ago, next to a man who was screaming at his girlfriend.

Joan loads up with waterThe next morning we got to see the pools up close. We had had a short look the day before, but it was crowded and we were in a rush because we were trying to get to the ranger's station to buy water. So Sunday morning, we got up early, packed the bikes, left them at the ranger station, and explored the pools. With hardly anyone else around, we jumped in. It felt wonderful. The pools are surrounded by cliffs, and have waterfalls at the end of them. We waded up the pools a bit, to one farther off the trail, and swam near the waterfall there. Then we saw someone dive into another pool above us--from a bridge on the road way up above. Eric says it was probably only a 30-foot dive. From where we were it looked like 100 feet.

After our swim, we bought eight, 20-oz bottles of water for 75 cents each.

next: the death-ride to Kaupo 

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