Maui - Wailuku Falls and Waihee Ridge Trails  − 3 March, 2007

Steph and I got up before the sunrise. We're still on PST. Had breakfast at the Swan Room which is a large open seating area with 40-foot ceilings and 40-foot shutters that swing open to a pond with two white and two black swans swimming in it. The white swans were considerably larger. When they decided it was time to get in the water they were hell-bent on making sure the black swans would take to land instead. Why can we call just get along?

Buffet would have been $25/person if the front desk hadn't felt sorry for our plight. They comped our breakfast for the entire trip. Tomorrow I'm stealing bread so we can make PB&J sandwiches on our next hike. Today, however, it would be the curse of the Portuguese sausages on two hikes we took.

The first was a seriously lame 15-minute loop into the Wailuku stream/falls. There's a botanical garden there, the guidebook says. But it's basically a lookout point for the Iao Point, which is a large needle-shaped rock format. Tons of tourists. And, oddly, a band of feral domestic cats. We noticed that Maui did not have the same chicken infestation as Kauai. That's because they all got eaten by the infestation of cats. Now what marmot will they have to import to rid the island of cats?

The second hike was killer. Killer as in, it damn near killed us. Killer, also as in tons of fun. It was a 1,500 climb over about 2 miles. Up and back should take about 2.5 hours the guidebook says. I clocked us at 3 and we did not go all the way up. It was pretty slippery and the view from mile 1.75 was all mist and clouds. It wasn't too windy or cold actually. Just humid and very serene. The birds and crickets were in full force. Lots of whistling and chirping going on. We saw a smallish, soaring bird with a long tail at about 2,000 feet. I couldn't get it on film. I'm no bird guy, so I have no idea what it was, but it was soaring in circles like a bird of prey. Awesomely fast too.

The trail people in Maui are all ripped, btw. We felt like two-big fat-asses up there. Not an over-crowded trail, actually. A bit daunting at first because it really is steep. But once you get going, it gets quite pleasant. And the views are spectacular. Coasts, to ridge-lines, to valleys, to mountain-tops. You see it all. And the foliage is incredible. About the first mile is all under a rain forest canopy. No big bugs or crazy snakes or anything, which is another reason I think Hawaii is the closest to Thailand I will ever really need to go.

Speaking of Thailand, we stopped and had coffee at the Maui Coffee Roasters on the Hana Highway going West. I had an excellent Thai Iced Coffee that wasn't too sweet. It took me all afternoon to drink it. But damn if it wasn't the best iced coffee I've ever had. Also, I got a number of their roasting warehouse and they're going to sell me some green coffee beans to take home. When I get home, I can't wait to do my own roast with some native-grown kona.

We took the long way back via the north coast road. We did a complete loop of the western part of the island today. Counter-clockwise. The Kahekili highway, as it's called, is therefore 3 o'clock to 11 o'clock. About 1/3 of the road, as it were. But it takes twice as long as any of the other 3rd (wow this is starting to turn into a math problem). What I mean to say is that it's a winding road that does not have the benefit of wide low flat lands to rest upon. Instead imagine the kind of s curves that you see in car commercials. Only wetter at times. And with one-lane sections and SUV's trying to squeeze along side you as they pass. We didn't eat a proper lunch, relying on granola bars, water and a pair of apples we bought at the local super market in Lahaina. So we were starving by the time we made our way to the end of Dramamine road. Good times. Steph was green. She doesn't do well on s-curves. One 152 s-curves she does considerably less well.

When we got back to two-lane roads we went to another market to stock up on sandwich fix-ins for the rest of the week. I got chastised by the check-out lady because I was buying $42 worth of food and all I had was $41 in my wallet. The credit card thingy was broken which meant she had to take it out on me, apparently. What made it tolerable was the fact that just a second before that she fumbled the "Earl, clean up on aisle 12" loudspeaker announcement and for a good 5 seconds the entire supermarket was blasted with the sounds of a phone trying to be hung up. It produced more giggles from more than our line. In addition to the chip on her shoulder she had a cast on her arm. No sympathy from me.

When we got back to the hotel it was dark. I wanted to take a dip in the ocean but we opted for the pool instead. It was nice and empty. After that, back in the room I stepped on a very small piece of glass that was in the room for some reason. We managed to avoid it this morning and last night, but it gouged me and I bled all the way to the sink. I felt like a big wuss when we called the front desk to tell them. All I needed was a band-aid and someone to show up with a vacuum cleaner. They called security too, who did give me a band-aid, but they also took away the bloody bathmat in a hazmat bag. The cleaning crew came and that was that. I'll nudge the front desk again the AM. "Your security and cleaning teams did a wonderful job handling my cut foot last night. Please let them know. And by the way, would you find it possible to comp us dinners for the remainder of our stay?"

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