Hidden Ulupalakua Lava Tube, Maui

  High above the crowded beaches of South Maui lies a hidden secret adventure that only those in the know will ever experience. Hidden only a thousand yards or so off a well traveled road around 4,000ft in elevation sits a massive cave which angles slowly down the side of Haleakala volcano. The amazing formations inside and the cave itself were formed by lava, creating an underground tube to transport the lava farther down the slope of the volcano. The same thing can be seen actively happening on the Big Island currently. Luckily this lava tube is all dried up making it much safer to explore. However the loose rocks and obvious cave ins leave some cause for concern.

  Part of this adventure is just finding the entrance. This included a dirt road, a jeep trail, jumping an old stone wall, then bushwhacking through dense brush for about tweny-five minutes before finding the lava tube entrance. It was surrounded by ferns, just like the famous Thurston Lava Tube in Volcanoes National Park over on the Big Island.

Pat and I surveying the scene inside the lava tube

   The tube doesn't look like much from the entrance, but after you duck around a rock you enter a long cavern that goes and goes and goes. Pat and I walked for about twenty minutes. He said he has gone for forty-five minutes without finding the end. Another friend of mine said the tube supposedly goes for about six miles before popping you out in the middle of the La Perouse lava flow way down along the Makena coast.
  It is a pretty incredible experience imagining lava flowing through this cave system, snaking its way down the volcano only to ooze out miles away along the coast. It is a window into the geological past of this island. But the real mind-blowing thing is that no one really knows about this lava tube. There are no signs, nothing in guide books, and not even a trail that goes to it. Even though Pat had been there several times before it still took us a half hour of wondering, bushwhacking, and searching before stumbling on it. So at least in the near future, this will remain one of the great hidden adventures of Maui.