We Survived the Road to Hana

Tuesday was our scheduled day to drive the Road to Hana. For those of you not familiar, it's a 52 mile stretch of road with approximately 620 curves and close to 60 bridges, many of which are one-lane. The drive takes about 3 hours one way without stops...and the whole reason you drive the road to Hana is for the stops.

So...we headed out bright and early, picked up our Gypsy Guide Hana GPS and were on our way. We made another stop for gas (to avoid paying close to $9 a gallon in Hana) and also a stop to pick up a cooler with a picnic lunch.

Our first official stop was to stretch our legs and take a short little hike. It was a nice stop, but probably not one I would do again...there's so much more to see later on....

It was a nice quick little 30 minute hike...and a nice place to stretch your legs!

The vegetation in Hawaii is crazy...it's truly like being in the jungle with all the giant trees, vines, and tropical flowers!

The Rainbow Eucalyptus trees...check out the coloring in that bark!

We stopped along the way whenever our Gypsy Guide aka Charlie (our nickname for the man in the box) told us to...and a couple of times when he didn't. We saw some incredible sights, but man was it a long day!

Our first official waterall...over a barbed wire fence, through some private property and down some very narrow, very steep worn paths! Beautiful!

The "3 Bears Falls"....with Poppa, Momma, & Baby....

And Poppa, Momma, & Baby at the "3 Bears Falls"

We stopped at the Halfway to Hana store for yummy banana bread and fresh pineapple! Half way there, after probably 3 hours! Yikes!

The lava rocks create some incredible coastline views!

Another beautiful view...

We stopped around noon for lunch at a well-known state park called Wai'anapanapa State Park. They had picnic areas, lava caves, a beautiful black sand beach, a blowhole and a lava rock arch. It was a great place for lunch.

You can see the lava rock archway in the middle of the photo....

Black Sand Beach...it was made more of super small black pebbles than black sand, but it was gorgeous! Hubby & I

The blowhole...it wasn't going to be going off anytime soon, but you could hear the water rushing in down below!

God's creation is so amazing!

A close-up shot of the arch down below...

After lunch, we headed back out towards the end of our Hana journey. We'd still yet to make it to Hana and by golly, we were gonna get there!

A beautiful beach area along the way....surfers were enjoying the waves!

And we made it...finally. It really is true what they say...."The Road to Hana isn't about the destination, but about the journey." Hana itself was nothing more than a small little town with really expensive gas (pushing $9 a gallon) and some homes. But we made it...and I wasn't about to not document the achievement!

Charlie (our GPS) recommended to keep going and I'm so glad he did...we found this stunning waterfall~ Wailua Falls. We could have hiked back in there and swam in the pool, but we weren't sure how much time we truly had left.....so we snapped some photos and moved along.

Our last stop was at Haleakala National Park and we ended up hiking 2 miles up a mountain to see a waterfall with a 400 ft drop. What should have been a 4 mile hike (up and back) probably ended up being at least a 5 mile hike since we first took the wrong trail and then about 1/4 mile up I realized my camera battery was dying. I wasn't about to go 2 miles to a waterfall and not have a working camera. So my dear Hubby headed back to the car while I waited on the trail for him. The end result was definitely worth it, but we are definitely not experienced hikers so it made for an interesting trek!

Nothing like a very comforting sign to start off the hike...

This sign says we still have 1.5 miles to go...another very discomforting sign...We thought we were at least half-way at this point! Ha!

Hubby with the giant banyan tree...

The hike up to the falls were about the journey and the destination...we got to see stunning sights like this....

and like this...

We hiked through bamboo forests...

Literally...

and crossed refreshing, rocky streams....

All to be greeted with this...2 miles and 800 ft in elevation later...

Waimoku Falls...a 400 foot drop of absolute beauty...

The pool at the bottom...

And Hubby & I...with as much of the waterfall as we could get.

So...then it was time to hike back down. And drive the 3+ hours home around the same curves and the same one-lane bridges. We discussed taking an alternate route home, but decided against it and headed back the same way we came. Thankfully we made it out of the curves and past the one-lane bridges before it got too dark. Of course it was pitch black by the time we reached our hotel. We were both incredibly exhausted and more than ready to be home. We decided takeout pizza sounded like the best option for dinner so we picked it up, ate a few pieces and promptly fell asleep.

All in all the Road to Hana was beautiful. Would I do it again? Not for awhile...it's stunning but such an incredibly long day to drive there and back all in one day!