Seven Roaring Waterfalls

We set out on an adventure today. When we were in Maui last year with all the kids we made the wild winding road trip to Hana, stopping at several falls and pools along the way. We did not set out early enough however to make it to the Seven Sacred Pools in the Haleakala National Park which is beyond Hana if you are going clock-wise around the island. So, Greg and I decided that this time around, we would try to make it to those pools. But, we did not want to drive that winding road another time! Greg has driven it twice already and so my suggestion to take a counter clock-wise path which is less traveled but shorter was appealing to him and to me. So we set out. But first things first. We did need to make a stop at Walmart for water type hiking shoes for Greg. After all, we were going to be hiking and swimming, swimming and hiking etc.

And the winner is...

Taking the road less traveled - the Piilani Highway - was really kind of treacherous in some places, (maps show it as a dotted line with warnings), but as he drove, Greg said he liked it better than the Hana Highway because Piilani didn't have the hairpin turn hugging cliffs like the Hana Highway. That was at first anyway. The road thinned to mostly one lane, with ups and downs so you couldn't tell if someone was coming from the opposite direction. We had read online that it was totally drivable - and it was (granted the weather was good) - it was just too often too narrow. And there were cars coming from the other direction, including tour vans. Many times we had to pull to the side to let cars by - and sometimes had to back up to get to a wide spot. Was mostly paved but several places it was dirt and some of the paved parts were so patch work type paved it was really really bumpy. So - it was an adventure! And very picturesque - going from one extreme in landscape to another - dry to wet - brown to green.

There's a goat out there - Greg loves goats.

In the midst of those clouds is the Big Island Hawaii - you can see it (just not easily in this photo) poking out mid clouds.

After a long 2 hours or so, we arrived to our destination - the Haleakala National Park. We were not sure if going the less traveled route was really all that time saving, or nerve saving. And sadly, we found out that the pools were closed to swimming! The water was too high meaning the falls were gushing - thus too risky to swim. Ugh! I was so disappointed. I really wanted to swim in those pools. But we'd made such an effort to get there, we continued on with our hike plans. We opted to do the 4 mile hike first that would take us past four of the pools and falls. Then we'd finish with a 20 min loop to the other three pools in the O'heo Gulch which ends at the ocean.

The falls were beautiful, the roar so loud. And yeah, they looked pretty dangerous.

The hike was easy enough. The flora changed as we hiked up. First it was trees and high grass and ferns. There was guava on the ground along the way, the air smelled like fruit salad.

There is a totally cool banyan tree -

Then the flora changed to bamboo. Was so cool.

Our reward - Waimoko Falls - 400 foot drop.

Pretty much the only water we touched. The trail went through the stream.

Once back down the trail we continued to the three lower pools.

Ocean view near the three sacred pools at O'heo Gulch.

Headed back - we don't always make the best decisions (never mind that we drove on a crazy road) but we opted to drive with the top down even though it had started to sprinkle just as we were getting back into the car. Sprinkles are not unusual, they often don't last. But this go around they did last and not just sprinkles. Oh well.

We followed these folks all the way back -

It was very nice having a car in front of us. We know that driving in the dark on these winding roads is easier than in the day time because you can see car lights before you can see a car. So we knew we'd be OK going back in the dark regardless. But it was nice to follow these people and they were not timid at all - we made it back to town in quite a bit less time than it had taken us in the day light. And it did stop raining, once we hit the dry side again - probably halfway back. We were pooped when we got back - tired legs and feet. It was a great day!