Back Road to Hana

One of the activities just about everyone does on Maui (at least once) is drive the "Road to Hana". That is the road that goes around the north aide of the Haleakala Volcano. It's a very narrow, very twisty road that hugs the shore. Well, you could say that about roads on all the islands. They don't build many roads up and over the volcanoes. But Hana is a particularly out-of-the-way, sleepy little town because it isn't easy to drive there. The north road goes through the lush, tropical rain forest that you think of when you think "Hawaii." (Most of Maui, and most of the other islands, are more desert-like. Dry, with little rain. I'll explain later.)

This trip, we took the "back road" around the south side of the island (highlighted on the map). You hear stories about the back road of the "Here there be Dragons" variety. You may be told the car rental companies don't permit driving that route. You'll see why.

Our Condo was in an area called Wailea, or South Maui. To get going on the back road, though, we had to take a detour up north, then back south - about an hour drive to end up on a road only three miles from where we started, because there is no connecting road.


Once you finally get to the real "back road," you may wonder what all the excitement's about. The road starts in pretty good shape, though it's very wavy. Perhaps they guys who poured the asphalt were sampling some of that Maui-Wowie. Note the vegetation. It's pretty green, due to heavy rains this year on the "dry" side, but it's all low desert scrub. No palm trees here - they're for the tourists in the resorts. The moist trade winds come from the northeast. They hit the mountains, get pushed up and condense, dropping 100 or more inches of rain on the northeast side of the islands. That's the lush, tropical paradise you see in the brochures. Most of the resorts are built on the west side of the island, where it stays sunny and dry most of the time. It would be a real desert there, but water is moved from the rainy side through aqueducts, and the dry side is irrigated (and a lot of palm trees are planted). But this "back road" area hasn't been developed (yet).


This is the area of the most recent volcanic eruption on Maui, about 200 years ago. You can see some "new" lava fields, dark and black, with little vegetation, surrounded by older lava fields. These recent eruptions came from low on the side of the main volcano, not out the top as you might think, and they were relatively small - a half-mile wide or less.


A few miles farther down the road, and the nice, smooth pavement turns rough, the stripes disappear, and you bounce along. Slowly, if you want the car to hold together. But the scenery is spectacular. We like this view better than the overgrown jungle on the north side.

When the road turns to gravel, it's actually a bit of an improvement. Not quite as rough as the old pavement, though dustier if you end up following someone. This little church sits off the road just as it changes from paved to gravel .


12 o'clock shadow. It's close to noon, and we're close to the equator, so the sun is almost directly overhead. That means almost no shadow below Cyndi. You don't notice it until someone points it out, and then it looks very strange.


	Farther east, you're back on paved road, but it's very narrow, and the cliffs are right up against the side of the road. Blind curves, hard to pass (that's hard to pass oncoming traffic - forget about passing the guy in front of you unless he pulls over at a wide spot). But it's still awesome. This is probably what scares the car rental companies. Plus having the cars shaken to death on the rough road by driving too fast.


A green version of the Grand Canyon? No - just a "wash" where water flows to the ocean when it rains up on the mountain.


The end of the line for this trip - a visit to Charles Lindbergh's grave. Yes, that Charles Lindbergh. He spent his last years on Maui, and died there in 1974. 2002 was the 75th anniversary of his solo Atlantic crossing, so it was fitting to stop by. The grave is next to this old church. It used to be marked on the road, but the place got cluttered up by too many tourists. Now, you have to know where you're going to find it. Some of the guidebooks will tell you what to look for.

On the way back, we stopped at Maui's winery. Cyndi sampled some of the Pineapple wine. I think the report was "very sweet." No competition for France or California, but it's something you don't expect from Hawaii.