Road to Hana

Road Trips

Jul 21

Written By Kelsey

Day 5 began with a very early morning in Wainapanapa State Park. It was a tad bit cloudy out, but we wanted to start our morning out early on the Honokalani Beach. This is one of Hawaii’s black sand beaches, and just below the campground we stayed at. We all got in our swimsuits, and headed down to the black sand beach. As soon as you step down there is a cool cave to the right of the steps, so of course we had to check it out! Unfortunately, our time on the beach was a bit ruined because of the nude photo shoot that was taking place. I made sure the guys did not look in the direction the photos were being taken, for their own sake. We took a dip in the chilly water, and enjoyed swimming for a little bit. It was still pretty early, so we decided to take a very short hike to the cliffs that were nearby. We got some fun pictures on the cliffs. The views were gorgeous and because the cloud coverage had dissipated a little bit so we had better views. We walked back and did our “showers” (outdoor showers again) but felt better because of it. We packed up our tents and camping gear, and hit the road.

Another drive on the Road to Hana (except we were driving away from Hana). Today’s task was to hit up some of the waterfalls and take pictures of the views along the way, since the day before we didn’t have time to do all of this. Our first stop was Waikani Falls, which was literally a stop on the side of the road. There wasn’t much parking (so be aware of this) and the signs say you can’t swim, but EVERYONE literally stops and swims at these waterfalls. We were the first people there and so we got to enjoy some time to ourselves before the crowds showed up. The water was FREEZING. Naturally, considering its coming from up the mountain and its a natural river. (See video below for my excessive screaming after we got in the water) Lucas did some “cliff” jumping after watching a couple other guys jump in. I would have no part in this, nor would the rest of our crew haha. Typical. We stayed there for about 30-1 hour and then got back in the car to head to our next stop.

Hanawi Falls. This falls was pretty cool, as originally we weren’t really planning to stop here, but when we saw the crowds, and figured out a way to get down there, we of course wanted to go. Again, parking wasn’t the greatest, and was very limited. Lucas ended up having to carefully turn the car around, and go back past some parking we had seen a ways up the road. The boys all swam, I was done swimming because at that point was dry, and didn’t feel like getting wet again. The water again, was very cold, but it was a cool little “pool” with a waterfall to look at and lots of rocks leading to a stream. There were quite a few people here, so not as secluded, but definitely worth the stop!

This would be our last little swimming hole for the day, but we did continue to make several stops along the way. One of them being Halfway to Hana, which was a cute little hole in the wall “shop” that was literally the halfway point to Hana. We got ourselves some DELICIOUS homemade banana bread, some snacks, drinks, and a pineapple smoothie, (DELISH) since we hadn’t had any breakfast yet. We, of course, devoured the banana bread pretty quickly, and enjoyed the rest of our drive back to Paia with some beautiful views!

Our next stop, would be more food. That’s right, LUNCH. Sadly, I was not that hungry, probably because of all the sweets I had for breakfast, but I still ate the food, and it was fabulous. We stopped in Paia, and ate at the Paia Fish Market. Side note: they do have several of these markets, and on the different islands too. We had some delicious fish burgers with Opaca Paca, and Mahi fish, fries on the side, and man was it good! Just look at the photos and video below. Some of the best fish burger I have had. It helps that we are in Hawaii and fish is excellent there.

The drive to Haleakala National Park (Hosmer Campground) would be about a fifty minute drive. We had no clue what we were going to do for dinner, because food would be lacking once we reached the park. We did end up stopping at a gas station that was closing, and got ourselves some chips and snacks and ended up eating that for dinner. Hey, we weren’t complaining, and after that delicious lunch, we weren’t super hungry for dinner, but knew we would need something to hold us over until morning!

The Hosmer Campground was AMAZING.

I love camping when its cold rather than hot (I believe it got down to the 50’s)
The views were beautiful.
We got to set up camp in the daylight this time.
The general atmosphere just gave it that National Park Camping vibe, which I love.
This was probably my top 5 favorite camping spots of all time.

Hosmer is a first come first serve campground. The guy we spoke to months before coming said he had never seen the campsite fully filled so we wouldn’t have to worry about not getting a spot. I don’t know what fully filled means, but when we got there, there were quite a few people, but still enough space for us to set up our tents too. The campsite was in the open, but behind it was surrounded by trees. You could see up to Haleakala, which was pretty cool too. We had a very early morning the next morning, 3 AM wake up time, so we had to hit the sack pretty early. (STAY TUNED FOR WHAT THAT ENTAILED) The sunset was gorgeous, and once the sun went down the rays reflected off of the mountain in front of us. There were some pretty nice people there who we spoke with and just had some good conversation. We ate our snacks after setting up camp, got in our warm clothes (yes it was cold, as we were in higher elevation so prepare yourself for that), and got in our tents to go to sleep. One thing you can do at night, is drive up the mountain (about a 30 min drive) to the highest point (it is drive able yes) and star gaze. We didn’t do this, because well you will hear why. But it is definitely recommended, as several people at our campsite did it that night!

I don’t remember what time we went to bed, but I am pretty sure it was pretty early 8:30, 9 o’clock. I didn’t sleep the best that night, but was able to fall asleep at least.

STAY TUNED FOR DAY 6’s START :) It was a pretty awesome way to start our Day 3 in Maui and Day 6 total on the trip.

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Thumbnail photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash