2022-02-22: Road to Hana

It was an early morning. We got up, had a quick breakfast, and got ready for the day. Darrell headed across the street to pick up our rented convertible for the day while Amanda and the kids got lunch and supplies packed for the day. Shortly after 9:00 we were on the road headed for Hana.

We travelled to Kahului first and made a quick stop at Target to grab a few things. Then we continued on to the Hana Highway. The Hana Highway is one of the most scenic drives in the world. The road is 52 miles (84 km) long with 617 white-knuckle switchbacks, 56 one-lane bridges, and tons of waterfalls. The highway is definitely not for the faint of heart. The switchbacks and bridges are quite scary at times. Trying to pass cars going in the other direction is difficult in many sections. It is slow going, especially since it was a busy day on the road. The highway is only 52 miles long, but it takes the whole day to drive it.

We stopped at a park on the side of the road for some lunch about 2/3rds of the way to Hana. Darrell slipped on some wet grass while carrying the cooler back to the car. Luckily he was unharmed. He just got a little muddy. We reached Hana just before 2:00pm. About 30 minutes past Hana is a site called ‘Ohe‘o Gulch which is the home of the “Seven Sacred Pools” and is part of a National Park. The road was closed the last time we did the road to Hana. We decided to give it a try this time. The road from Hana to ‘Ohe’o Gulch is even worse than the road to Hana. We finally made it to the National Park only to find a sign stating the pools were closed. What a disappointment. We decided not to pay the entrance fee to the National Park and started our trek back to the condo.

We stopped at a few places along the way back looking for a snack but most of the places were closed or had limited selections. We finally found a place around 4:00 called “Halfway to Hana” which is, amazingly, about half way along the Hana Highway. Darrell grabbed some chocolate macadamia nut ice cream and the others grabbed some shave ice.

We were back in Kahului around 6:00pm. We stopped at Costco to gas up the car and grab a couple of roasted chickens for dinner and continued on our way. We made it back to the condo shortly after 7:00pm. The whole adventure was about 10 hours long! We decided the convertible wasn’t the best vehicle for us. While the open air top was nice, the car was pretty cramped for the four of us. The small cooler we brought didn’t even fit in the trunk properly.

We spent a bit of time in the pools after dinner and then called it a night.