Wai'anapanapa and the Pipiwai Trail

                              

                                 

Jan 15, 2025 - We had booked a 7:00AM reservation to Wai'anapanapa State Park to see the black Sand Beach at sunrise.  They only allow timed entrance to the park, for non-Hawaiians.  It was $20 for both of us.  It's a 5 minute drive from our AirBnB and we got there right at 7:00.  It was great being there at sunrise and there were only a few others there that early.  After exploring Wai'anapanapa, we drove to the Kipahulu section of Haleakela National Park.  It was a 45 minute (12 mile) drive on the Hana Highway.

Breakfast in our bitty kitchen

First views of the black Sand Beach at Wai'anapanapa

Here comes the sun

we made it down to the rocky beach

pretty black sand and a sunrise

lava rocks

we pretty much had the beach to ourselves

there were pretty views from all over this park

in the park they had a cute little fruit stand (which we see everywhere!)

lots of mangroves

pretty rainbow in the cloud

Before our trip beyond Hana, we stopped back at the apartment for a quick coffee

The road OUT of Hana, was much tougher and narrower than the road TO Hana.

A 5 mph S curve ahead (there are so many, it seemed silly to occasionally have a sign!)

very jungley

lots of really narrow bridges

random waterfalls, everywhere you looked

and rough road

We made it to Haleakela NP and the Pipiwai Trail

This trail is 4 miles round trip and 800 ft elevation

There are lots of views along the way of waterfalls

Makahiku Falls 

a really big Banyan tree

a few bridges over waterfalls

waterfalls into pools (that they warn you not to swim in)

lots of steps UP

A walk through the bamboo forest

And finally Waimoku Falls! 

Waimoku means water that severs or breaks in two.

I only went a little past the point (and luckily I didn't die)

It was hard to get a selfie with the entire falls in the pic

We then stopped for lunch on a rock with a view of the falls

starfruit for lunch

This was a view up at the mountain we had climbed, from the visitor center.   The entire Pipiwai hike took us 1.5 hours to get to the top and 1 hour down.

Next we hiked the .5 mile Oheo gulch overlook interpretive hike

There were pools along the gulch

and of course more water falls

After a shower, we got an early dinner at Hana Ranch Restaurant

with a great view of the ocean from their deck (and the Hasegawa General Store).  It's probably going to be another early night to bed, after a 6.5 mile day...we're pretty beat!