Pipiwai Trail - June 5, 2010

Our last day in Maui, boo hoo!  We checked out of the condo and headed on a hiking adventure.  We drove to the "Seven Sacred Pools" area (a part of Haleakala National Park, so don't throw away that parking receipt...it's good for 3 days!) and took the Pipiwai trail through crazy landscapes, ending at 400 foot tall Waimoku Falls.

This hike is so worth doing.  It is 4 miles round trip.  A lot of it is actually paved (ie. bridges, boardwalks), so it's relatively easy to do, but I would suggest not wearing flip flops, even though I did, haha.  There are still some rocky areas.

The beginning part of the trail takes you alongside a steep canyon.  The state erected signs that say "Danger - Fatal Drop" in front of inviting openings in the trees.  Of course, we had to go peek to see if it was indeed fatal, and yes, one careless step or a playful push and you'd be dropping straight down hundreds of feet to your watery demise.  Be smart and stay away from the cliff; don't stand right at the edge and take pictures like we did... ;)

We hiked towards what we thought should have been "Infinity Pool" atop a beautiful waterfall, but it was so dry that the pool was non-existent and the waterfall was a trickle. :(  I still had to take a photo there.  Just pretend that water is flowing down near where I am sitting, threatening to wash me over the edge.

We passed by banyan trees with their crazy trunks and roots, several waterfalls, and many mango trees.  Yum, tree-ripened mangoes!  There were so many of them that even with all the hikers passing by, fruit was just dropping left and right and collecting on the ground.  It made me sad to see all of it go to waste.  We ran into a couple who were knocking down mangoes with a bamboo pole and putting them in multiple plastic bags.  Babe was throwing rocks with his accurate pitching skills to knock them down; I was quite impressed.  I put as many as I could in my backpack for later snacking.  Some of the trees seemed to be guarded by a swarm of mosquitoes, and my legs paid dearly, but so worth it.


We reach the part of the trail where it becomes more paved with bridges and boardwalks.  Our surroundings drastically change; all of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of a bamboo forest.  It's a stark contrast to the tropical environment.  The air became a lot cooler and a gentle peace settled in.  Much of the trail is within this bamboo forest.  Of course, being Chinese, I couldn't help but look for bamboo shoots, but none to be seen.  Maybe someone else had already harvested them.


Once you exit the bamboo forest, it was not too much longer before we arrived at Waimoku Falls.  It's tall!  There's a sign erected nearby saying we shouldn't approach too closely in case of falling rocks, probably for liability.  But since the area was dry in general, the falls weren't violently pounding, but just like those tall water fountains you buy to put in your home or hang on a wall.  This was a good place to sit and have mangoes.


We hiked back to the car, which included an intermission at one of the waterfalls to take a refreshing dip.  Returning to civilization, we continued driving on the same highway to Hana, except now it takes you all the way around the south part of the island.  It's very twisty with some gravely parts and one-lane sections.  It is not as lush, but the landscape was still intriguing, as this part of the island gets constantly bashed by wind and surf.  You can even see a sea arch off the coast.

Arriving back in Kahului, we located another Ululani's shave ice location, but it closed 5 minutes before we got there. :(  (Did you know that Ululani's is the #1 rated United States restaurant on TripAdvisor?  Out of almost 300,000 reviewed establishments.)  Ended up eating another meal at another L and L BBQ location and gobbling up as much as we could of the remaining mangoes that I carried back from the trail.  We had so many extra that we left them on a table for others to enjoy.

Having a couple of hours to kill before our 11pm red-eye flight back to San Francisco, we hit the Queen Kaahumanu Mall.  We even brought our airplane clothes into Macy's with the intention of changing in their restrooms, but the nice salesperson let us use the dressing room.

After returning the rental car, we check in and board our flight back to the mainland.  UDU had come through; we had first class seats without having to use any CR-1's, sweet!   I didn't get much sleep though.  I also had to look forward to another 15 hours of flying time...who else but a mileage runner would take a flight from Maui to San Francisco, lay over for 5 hours, and then hop on a plane from San Francisco to Hong Kong?  Details to come...