Maui Windward Side

Finally, a late start, I think we're starting to adjust to the time just in time to come home! The plan for the day was to visit the Îao Needle, and then head partway down the Road to Hana, both of these on the east side of the island. The west side is almost desert like while the east side is tropical rain forest and much more What we think as Hawaiin.

We started by heading up to the Îao State Park where the prominent feature is a 1200" tall volcanic monolith covered in vegetation. This valley was the site of some fairly epic battles between neighbouring islands through history, and the needle was used as a lookout point.

Our next plan for the day was to drive part way on the Hana Highway to the Garden of Eden. But first, lunch at Mama's Fishouse, I think we were lucky to get a reservation, only calling at 11am. Very pricey, but with none of us having entrees, it seemed reasonable with the great service, fantastic view, and the incredibly fresh fish. It always feels like you're sitting outside as the walls are wide open at all the restaurants.

As I'd been hit by a nasty sinus cold the night before, I wasn't drinking. Steve decided that as he'd had a glass of wine I should drive the rest of the road. I think he did this just so I could experience it. Not soon after Mama's, the road begins to feel like back lanes in the southwest of England, only with 1000' drops on one side, volcanic rock walls on the other, and a 15mph speed limit that is sometimes hard to keep. The last 11 miles took about 25 minutes, with about 12 one lane bridges. I think this was the toughest drive I've ever done, especially given that we have a Pathfinder. Not sure the garden was worth the drive, but the drive was the real part of the experience. Some of you might recognize this as the opening helicopter arrival scene in Jurassic Park. They flew past the vegetation covered rock at the bottom of the first picture and landed by the pool in the second.

As going further towards Hana was just more of the same, and we didn't have time to get to the 7 pools, we decided to head up Haleakala for sunset, another winding and very steep road. Unfortunately with cloud and time, we didn't get to the summit of 10000ft, stopping at the visitor centre at "just" 7000ft. At this point we were well above the first layer of clouds, and the temperature had dropped from about 90F to 59F. I guess getting up early to be there for sunrise is the right answer, but just didn't work into this trip. Still amazing to be higher than any high peak in the Adirondacks by several thousand feet!