MAUI day 5

We woke up early (AGAIN) to drive the road to Hana. 

To prepare ourselves for the 600 curves & 54 bridges on the road to Hana,

we had:

 The "maui revealed" guide book on hand. 

(referred to as "M.R." from now on.)

Top down on the jeep.

Music cranked up (I made some "party mixes" for the occasion).

Shades on.

Road to Hana "Lunch Box" in tow.

Did a little bit of trespassing so we could reach a fall that usually "eludes" people (quoting from "M.R."). Austin fell and got all muddy--karma for climbing (well, going thru) the fence, even though the sign told us not to.

After hiking a narrow path on the side of a cliff we came across this beautiful 180 foot waterfall. 

The below pictures were so precarious to get. We were literally standing on the EDGE. What you can't see is my death grip on a tree so I didn't slide down the mountain.

We read in "M.R." that if you want to enjoy a private waterfall--Punalau is it.

You have to hike up a stream bed & scramble over rocks for about 20 minutes. (we did it in the rain and boy were the boulders slippery. I was pretty much on my hands and knees the whole time.)

After a few falls from me we finally made it to the waterfall.

Since we had the waterfall to ourselves we stripped down (how far you'll never know...) and swam in the pool at the base of the fall. Burrrrr, it was cold.

"watch out for that treeeeee." In Austin fashion, he swung from some tree branches on the way to our car. He literally stopped traffic as people pulled over to watch him and yell "Tarzan!" out their windows.

We stopped to look over the bridge at mile marker 25 to see Makapipi fall directly below.

Hanawi Falls- People are content to take pictures of this waterfall from the bridge but we decided to hike down and see it in person.

At the halfway point we stopped at none other than the "halfway to hana" food stand to get some famous banana bread.

(thanks to Yelp for this image.)

Enjoyed Waianapanapa park.

We wanted to swim in the pool in the cave but the water was very low. So Austin told me a wacky made up cave story instead. It made for a good laugh.

.

pretty impressed, i wrote this upside down. (Austin and I practice writing our names upside down on the tables when we eat at Macaroni Grill.)

We wanted to have a picnic at the red sand beach with our sack lunches but it was POURING rain.

We ate in the car instead and yayyyyy, the rain stopped. Lucky us because this beach was the coolest!

"This trail is DANGEROUS." We weren't frightened. Ok maybe I was a little nervous because I am a little bit weary of heights (especially when wet!).

We came across this neat graveyard.

Look how BEA-u-tiful this beach is. The reds and the blues and the greens....WOW! 

Austin swam out to jump off this lava rock because he had been itching to do some cliff jumping all day.

While he was jumping I was doing this:

The 7 sacred pools.

I swam around and Austin finally got to do some more cliff diving (the cliffs weren't high enough for him so he wanted to jump off the bridge in the second picture. We searched for a way to get to the bridge, but LUCKILY(for me) did not find one.)

We then hiked the Pipiwai trail. 

We found out about an infinity pool on the top of the 200 foot Makahiku Falls from "M.R." There were NO directions and no clear path but when we came across a fence and a sign that read "DANGEROUS" we knew we were going in the right direction. We hopped the fence and hiked to the pool. For someone who is afraid of heights it was SO hard to get in that pool and swim to the edge. (Austin had to tell me he would think I was "cool" if I did it. HA HA). We hung out on the rocks on the edge for a bit but after remembering what a ranger had told us about a possible flash flood we hurried out to get on dry land. Here is an online description of the Pool-- "When hikers go to the top of Makahika waterfall and climb into the pool, they can see over the waterfall with no visible barrier - so the pool is called the Infinity Pool."

Here is a video to better show you this Infinity Pool. It isn't my video so kudos' to the person who filmed it. This video was filmed while at the edge of the infinity pool looking down into the 200 foot waterfall below. (There was much more water in the falls when they took this video but you get the idea.)

We resumed our hike on the Pipiwai trail-it started to POUR cats and dogs (or at least raindrops the size of cats and dogs) so we were drenched. On the way back down, I stripped down and hiked in my bathing suit. (YES! It was a day comprised of stripping!)

We crossed bridges, walked past a banyan tree, meandered through a bamboo forest, waded thru 2 streams & then finally made it to the 400 foot Waimuku Falls. 400 ft people!

This picture doesn't do it justice. It was breath-taking.

We made friends with a group of people while on our adventures-- we told them about the Red Sand beach & they in turn told us about the hidden falls by Waimuku Falls. They told us it was "hard" to reach but worth it. Hard doesn't nearly describe the trek to this waterfall. We went up a stream,  through water, over huge bolders, up and through a couple of mini waterfalls, went over a 10 foot ledge (Austin actually had to go first and PULL me up) and at one point even had to jump from rock to rock-all in the POURING rain. Since we don't know the name of the waterfall (if it even has one), Austin and I just refer to this fall as "OUR SPECIAL" waterfall. It seemed to be about the same height as the Waimuku Falls- maybe it's a "sister" fall?  I researched online to try to find more information on it but all I found was this from someone's online journal, "A little exploring, however reveals a hidden, unnamed waterfall nearby. Hiking the ravine to this waterfall is reminiscent of entering Jurassic Park (which was partially filmed on Kaua'i). " I couldn't agree more. The bumps, scrapes and bruises were worth it.

After hiking back down the Pipiwai trail we drove back to the hotel. Instead of going back the way we came (thru Hana) we drove all the way around the island instead. It was such a pretty drive. It was amazing to drive along the edge of Maui, surrounded by trees and lava, overlooking the ocean, watching whale breach after whale breach. It was wonderful to watch the sun set over the ocean while driving with the top down. I have to admit, I fell asleep on the drive. We were exhausted.

such a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOG day. But lots o' fun in the sun (and rain).