Most romantic road trip - Road to Hāna, Maui - Part II

This post is the second part of our most romantic road trip on the Road to Hana. You can find the previous post here and my blog on our anniversary trip to Maui, Hawaii here.

You have seen blue waters, green trees and beautiful waterfalls on the Road to Hana. But there is more!

Now, let me show you the most beautiful place in the whole Maui to you. When someone refers to Maui as a paradise, this is the place that comes to my mind (most of everything else with the exception of black beach seemed like I have seen it before, beautiful nonetheless). Just a few yards past mile marker 25, you would see a steep downhill turn off for Nahiku Road. It is a road you must take. Without doubt.

 

A slice of paradise

Another one

Yet another one

I swear I could sit there all day and watch the shades of blues and greens interspersed with black rocks and not blink for a second (well, the not blinking part is not really true, but you get the point).

And what you have seen above is only one view of the place. For a 360 degree awesome view, you should be there in person :)

Before I forget to mention, my husband was super excited to find a guava tree on the Nahiku road. Guava is a tropical fruit and one of his favorites; you won't find the tree in the US but they were in plenty where we grew up in India. 

My husband excited to see a guava tree on the Nahiku road

If you have been following us on this blog, you would know that we love to hike. And when I heard about the 4-mile round trip Pipiwai trail that takes you through a bamboo forest, I was excited. To get to the trail, you have to enter the Haleakela National Park (backside) a bit past mile marker 42. If you have visited the Haleakala Crater at the summit (located on the other side) to watch the sunrise/sunset, keep the ticket as you could use it to enter here as well. Now that we parked our vehicle here, let's begin the hike.

You walk for a mile amidst all tropical trees you can think of (mango, guava, passion fruit etc) with deep fruit fragrances, mainly guava (felt like heaven for my husband) and you would reach the bamboo forest.

Bamboo Forest

If you walk for another 1.5 miles, you will see Waimoku Falls, but we did not go all the way as we wanted to return by sunset.

We then took the 0.5 mile Kuloa Trail to reach the popular 'Oheo Gulch' aka Seven Sacred Pools where waterfalls spill into tiered pools leading to the sea. It is a serene location despite the crowds, and we enjoyed the beautiful sunset there.

One of the Seven sacred pools

It was getting dark and we are yet to cross the dreaded back side of Road to Hana (Highway 31), a stretch of about 20 miles which is partly unpaved, rough and worst of all two-way traffic on this narrow road without any separation. Sounds dangerous especially in the dark, isn't it? You bet, it is, unless you drive very carefully. The other option is to head back the way you just came but we decided to complete the loop instead. 

We reached home safely. Thanks for joining us along on our journey :)

Note:

1) Though the mile markers work up to a point, suddenly you would find that the sequence changes and it gets confusing thereafter. So, don't swear by them.

2) Don't miss Julia's warm and very yummy banana bread (must try) and Glen's homemade fresh coconut ice cream on the Road to Hana.

Happy tripping!