ktlm
DIS Veteran
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- Jun 20, 2008
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Would you mind sharing where you got the CD? We plan on doing the Road to Hana as well when we're in Maui in Nov.
Any tips you could share?
Thanks
There are several CDs, but we were told these 2 were the best and to get one of them:
1. The Hana Road Self Guided Drive
2. R2H Road to Hana
We had the first one. I know they each have a spot or two that is different on them. We missed a spot I would have really liked to have seen that was on the other one (if I remember right it was Twin Falls)--- but I heard the 2nd one missed a spot that we really enjoyed (Can't remember which spot that was). The CDs are for sale all over the place in Maui. We got it in a gift shop at the hotel. Most of the souvenir shops have them. If you want it ahead of time, you can also get them on Amazon or online other places.
Sad the waterfalls were not running for you! They were very full when we were there. There was a tropical storm approaching (and I think one that had passed quite a bit away before we got there that caused some rain) that had the currents and waters really going. We went past Hana to the Haleakala National Park too, but totally missed Lindbergh's grave. I didn't even know it was there until your post. Sorry we missed that. We hiked around the National Park area for a little bit, but it was getting late so we did not get to stay as long as we liked. I think the cascade area you are talking about is the Seven Sacred Pools, it was closed when we were there because the water was very strong, full, and rough, so we did not get to swim or hike around the pools themselves. We got great views of it from another hiking trail though.
The places I know we stopped (and there were probably more) were:
1. Waikamoi Ridge Trail
2. Waikamoi Small Falls
3. Garden of Eden
4. Kaumahina State Wayside Park
5. Keanae Arboretum (if you stop here- bring bug spray-- we nicknamed it mosquito alley- and we did not stay long!)
6. Keanae Peninsula
7. Wainapanapa State Park (black sand beach). There was also a cave swimming area here- there were signs marking it closed, but a bunch of people were swimming in it anyway. A local told me that the signs had not been there 2 days before and had probably been put up due to rough waters
8. Puu Kaa State Wayside Park
9. Wailua Falls
10. Haleakala National Park.
As far as tips, I would say start really early. There is so much to do and see. Seems like we didn't leave Paia until about 9:30 a.m. (Paia is about 45 or 50 minutes from the Kaanapali area so we left the resort around 8:30) and we really wished we had more time. We were there in the summer when the sun went down later too. They tell you it is best to get back before dark-- but we drove back probably half the way in the dark and it wasn't awful. There really wasn't any traffic coming from the opposite direction except for a few locals. Best to be back before dark, but if you don't make it, nothing to panic about. You will not find many spots to get food on the Road to Hana-- there are a few roadside stands, but that is about it. The best thing to do is to stop at one of the many places in Paia the sell sack lunches for you to take on the road to Hana. Some of those places open at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.a if you manage to get a really early start (pretty sure that would never happen for us). That way you have your lunch with you whenever you decide you are hungry. We wound up eating our sack lunches at the Kaumahina State Wayside Park- which also has bathrooms (bathrooms also can be few and far between- so stop and use them when you can). Do go past Hana to the Haleakala National Park unless you have run out of time-it is worth seeing. We had dinner in Paia on the way back and really enjoyed it. There are lots of places to eat there, so that would be a good plan if you are getting back and hungry. I would have liked to have explored Paia more, but the shops were closed by the time we got back and we were not in Maui long enough to get over there on another day. We heard the Flatbread Company was really good- but it had quite a wait, so we went to Café Des Amis. If you like Curry/Indian food, Café Des Amis was really good. Mama's Fish House in Paia is probably the most recommended restaurant in Maui, but you pretty much need reservations for that, so you probably don't want to do it on your Road to Hana day as you don't want to be on a schedule and also I don't think I would want to go in there all dirty from exploring all day. Lots of the people in the restaurants right in Paia looked like there were coming in from the Road to Hana- so it was no big deal at all in those.
We didn't know what to expect since we had heard the road was narrow and scary, but we did not think it was that bad. There are some spots where only one car can go through at a time, so you have to wait for traffic coming from the opposite direction and vice versa-- but other than that- we have driven roads which were a lot more scary in the Ozarks in Arkansas or in Colorado. On another day, we drove up to the Haleakala Crater, and I thought that drive was much worse and much scarier than the Road to Hana.
Haleakala Crater is also someplace to see and definitely worth doing. I will say that if you are prone to altitude sickness to take it very easy once you are up there. You are going high very quickly with your body not really having time to adjust before you get out and start walking. I got there and started hiking around some and I started feeling bad pretty quickly. DH and DD were fine. I still hiked into the crater a little bit and enjoyed it-- but the altitude sickness stuck with me probably a good 12 to 24 hours after we drove down (headache and dizziness- nothing that I let slow me down too much). Just a warning which we knew going in, but others clearly didn't and were having trouble and paying for it-- it is very easy to walk down into that crater- but it is not so easy to come back up. The path looks deceptively easy and not steep at all- but at that high altitude coming back up can be really hard. We saw a bunch of people who had gone too far down struggling to get themselves back up. One Dad and son (not an old Dad either), they were stopping every few steps for the Dad to sit on the ground rest and catch his breath and laughing every time which probably made it worse. We talked to them for a bit and they had gone pretty far down not having a clue of what they were in for to come back up! It is very tempting to keep going down because it is fun and doesn't look like it would be hard to get back up.
Have a great trip! We really enjoyed the area you are staying in. I don't know if they are there year round, but if you are walking the beach and go down past the Hyatt to the beach area over that way- we were told there were turtles that often hang out over there. We saw them.
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