Day 11. Maui (Hana area)

In the rush to get to Hana yesterday I wish we had taken the time to stop and do some shopping. The stove I use is a cat can alcohol stove. Usually, I use denatured alcohol for the stove, which works great. Unfortunately, you can’t fly with denatured alcohol and it is only sold by the quart, which is way too much for a couple nights of camping. So, for this trip I have been using isopropyl alcohol. It’s cheaper and is sold in smaller volumes. On the Kalalau trip I was able to get 91% alcohol and that worked OK. In Hana I could only find 70% and that didn’t work so well. It would ignite but wouldn’t stay lit for more than a minute, so water for oatmeal took a long time to warm up this morning.

Anyway, after breakfast we headed to the Haleakala National Park Kïpahulu Visitor Center. From the visitor center we hiked the Pïpïwaï Trail to Waimoku Falls. This 400 ft waterfall is probably one of the more spectacular waterfalls I’ve ever seen, especially since you are able to walk right up to the base of the falls. The 4-mile roundtrip trail has a section that passes through a bamboo forest. Walking through this forest of grass was like walking through a tunnel.

After returning and eating a quick lunch we went to see the Seven Sacred Pools in ‘Ohe’o Gulch, near the visitor center. The pools had some nice waterfalls flowing into them but rain was starting to fall so it was a quick excursion.

The next stop for the day was the Venus Pool. This pool was a 10-minute hike from the road and is a popular place for cliff jumping.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Hamoa Beach. This is a popular little beach with some great waves that were good for body surfing. We played in the waves until it started to rain and then headed into town for supper (Hana Ranch House again). The final night of camping for the trip was rainless so that was nice.

Pictures from today can be found here.