The Road to Hana…

The Road to Hana is pretty dangerous. There are approximately 600 hairpin turns and 54 bridges and many narrow one-lane roads. Often times you come to a yield sign because the road is simply to narrow for two cars to pass. The Road to Hana is filled with constant traffic, distracting views, beautiful waterfalls, amazing vegetation, and steep cliffs.

It is hard to put the appropriate words to the experiences we had along the Road to Hana.

These are some of the amazing things to see along the road...

As we drove along the road to Hana we listened to a CD that told us all about the surrounding area. It gave tips of when to pull off the road to experience and exquisite sight or visit a historic landmark. In this case we found a small beach that was amazing. It was in a cove surrounded by huge hills that were green with vegetation.

One of my favorite things in life is waterfalls. I don't know why I love them so much, but I do. As we drove along we could see breaks in the cliffs and watch the cascading water as it fell to the pools below. One thing that we found so beautiful was the vegetation that surrounded the falls. Of course it was wild and it framed the falls so beautifully.

Just past the city of Hana is a national park called Oheo Gulch. It is where you can find the Seven Pools. A lot of people know them as the Sacred Pools. I recently learned that there is nothing sacred about them. Tour bus drivers used to make up stories about the pools.

It was a beautiful place. There were two hikes a person could take that lead to waterfalls. Unfortunately, Ben and I were too close to dark to be able to hike. We did spend some time at the Seven Pools. It was a beautiful sight...the pools started at the top and water cascaded down to the next pool, eventually it lead to the ocean below. People were swimming and jumping from cliffs.

As Ben and I were hiking to the pools we stopped to read sings about the park and surrounding areas...it strongly urged you to stay out of the Ocean because of the infestation of Hammerhead Sharks...you didn't have to tell Ben and I twice.



Ben and I had two choices to make...go back the way we came (which is what all of the maps and signs told us to do) or go on around the island where there were washed out roads. It mentioned on the map that if you drive between certain points it violates car rental agreements. Ben and I discussed it and even asked the park rangers...we decided to go along the other side of the island. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I can't describe beauty and cameras can't capture it. You just have to go experience it...

This road was a lot more scary than the road to Hana. There were few signs, it was very narrow, no lights, and a lot of the time we were driving on a dirt road. But it was amazing. The beautiful tall green hills to the right and steep cliffs that lead to the sharp volcanic rock with waves crashing against it to the left.

Close to sunset Ben and I came across a beach and decided to pull off. There were huge pot holes leading into the beach (I was scared we were going to get stuck...Ben wasn't). There was only one other group on the beach. We watched the sunset here. It was so beautiful. We walked along the black rock beach and had so much fun.

The trip took about 9 hours and I did get a little car sick but it was worth it. If we ever go back we will do it again...except this time we will leave early and take all the side trips.