Road to Hana Part 2

Just before the Keanae turnoff there is the Keanae Arboretum where you can take a self guided tour on a asphalt walkway, see: Keanae Arboretum Walk.  It will take about an hour or so and it is a good break from sitting in the car.  Parking is along the road, so be careful to get off of the road.  I always found the best parking to be on the way back side of the road, so coming back after the Keanae visit is a natural.

After leaving Keanae you head south to Hana.  In a short while you will come to the Wailua turn off.  There is not anything extremely exciting in Wailua, but the little village is very nice.  Turning off is optional. 

Just beyond the Wailua turnoff is the Keanae Valley Lookout. This is a good place for a pit stop with nice restrooms. And depending on the time it may be a good place to break out the picnic lunch. You did bring one, didn't you?  

Back on the road and the next point of interest is the Pua'aka'a State Park.  There is a beautiful waterfall there.

The next must stop is Wai'anapanapa State park where there is a black sand beach and some very spooky caves.  The caves can be explored, but be careful the inside is damp an footing can be treacherous. 

Wai'anapanapa is a fairly large park with camp grounds, cabins, restrooms and outdoor showers.  There are picnic tables and grills there and it is close enough to Hana that you can go get a bag of charcoal and all of the supplies for cooking out.  Beware though, Hana prices may cause sticker shock.  

There is a trail down to the black sand beach that is not very difficult for most people and is worth the trip down. If you get a chance before you leave Kahului pick up a couple of roll out mats, they are sold at just about all of the stores and they are fairly cheap and definitely better than sitting on the ground or the black sand.

Leaving Wai'anapanapa turn to the left to go to Hana town.  Hana is a fairly small village that is very much old Hawaii.  Not as much as Moloka'i, but as much as available anywhere else in the state.

There is not a lot to do in Hana town itself, but just outside of town is the lower end of The Haleakala National Park and the "Sacred Pools" which are always busy.

Rental cars are not supposed to go past this point because they don't want to come and get you if you break down.  It used to be that the road was impassable in places, but these days the road is fine, although not paved all of the way.  We didn't let a little thing like the rental agreement stop us and we went on anyway.  We'll take that trip in the essay, The Road Past Hana.

Posted by Richard Binckley at 2/2/2006 9:44 PM | View Comments | Add Comment |