3 Day Hana Trip: Day 2

Heidi and her nameless Pit Bull puppy friend

Just after a rainshower in Hana

Waking up in Hana on the rainy northeast tip of Maui is a magical thing. You can almost always expect some showers during the night which makes the flowers and trees glisten with water droplets in the morning light. Spider webs catch the water as well giving you a little more warning of their presence. And for us, the familiar jingle of the local pit bull puppy greeted us as well. Heidi quickly made friends with the property owners dogs which we never could find out the names of. But I challenge any pit bull haters out there to try and not like this little, super affectionate, pit bull puppy. She would leap up on Heidi's lap licking her face all over.
  The four of drove the few miles into Hana town for breakfast after a few hours of sipping coffee and tea and enjoying the views. After finding out the ranch restaurant is only open for breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays we searched around for another spot and found out the ritzy Travaasa Hotel had breakfast. While the views from the dining room were incredible the breakfast was sparse and very overpriced. I'm just glad we already had our coffee so we could save the $5 on getting it there. Phew. After that we dropped Deedee back at our place and drove onwards to tackle the Oheo Gulch hike up to Waimoku Falls. This is one of my favorite hikes on the road to Hana.

Bamboo forest meets rocky stream

Susie and Heidi enter the dense bamboo forest

 This hike is a 4 mile round trip hike through some of the most lush and interesting scenery on the island. Your views change from giant banyan trees, to dense bamboo forests, to river crossings and to huge waterfalls.

Susie and Heidi in front of a massive banyan tree about 1/4 way up the hike

Heidi's idea: Bamboo Forest looking up

Yoga under a 450ft waterfall...check

Heidi and Susie at the end of the Kipahulu hike in front of Waimoku Falls

View from the infinity pool, 200ft straight down

Winding boardwalk made from recycled plastic

View from the top, looking down over seven sacred pools

On the edge

The payoff at the end of this hike is one of the best of any hike on Maui. You find yourself in a huge, circular canyon carved out of the rock by a 400+ ft waterfall. The water cascades over the cliff and into a shallow pool at the base which allows you to walk right under it if you can brave the little pelting water droplets falling from four hundred feet above.
  On the way back we stepped off the trail down to one of my favorite off limits places in this area. It is where a calm series of pools slide off to one corner before plummeting over the edge of a 200ft cliff. I can imagine during a flash flood that you would not want to be sitting here, but on a calm sunny day there is no better view than the 'infinity pool'. This on-top-of-the-waterfall lookout makes for a lasting vision as the river continues to flow out to the ocean through the seven sacred pools. One of these days I will be here when the sun is just overhead lighting up the whole gulch but these pictures can give you a little bit of the sense of awe that we were all feeling.
  After this big hike we had another easy evening with wine, hot tub, and a very playful puppy.