road to hana highway

[blue cruiser]

is there a right way or rong way of doing the full circle road to hana .
my thought was to go along the unpaved road first whilst still fresh in the morning but if there you have other idears let me know am planing making full day of this from 9am till wenever.
thanks for any tips or help.

[spleen93]

I would start earlier than 9 am. Less crowded, less likely to have cars in a line before you. Admittedly, you're going the "backwards" way so it won't be as bad - so you MAY be able to get started at 9 am and not run into problems. But I would still start earlier to be safe - an 8 AM start would be MUCH better.

Spleen

[teamfour]

Blue cruiser, can you describe your route in more detail? We want to drive from Kahului to Hana, but was not aware of a back way.

[spleen93]

It's not really a back way. It's more doing the reverse of the full Road to Hana. So you start in Kahului, drive up Haleakala part way to Ulupalakua and then drive down the dirt road along the south shore of Maui to get to Hana - the pretty stuff occurs right before Hana and after Hana as you're driving along the east shore of Maui. So if you have directions on how to do the Road, just reverse the route.

Spleen

[Leejnd4]

There are pros and cons to both directions. The downside of doing the "reverse" route (dirt road first) is that by the time you get to the really incredible sections (past Hana from this direction), dripping with lush vegetation and dotted with dozens of waterfalls, the sun is on the other side of the Island so it's all in the shade. If you want to stop along the way and possibly swim in some idyllic waterfall pools, it's much nicer to do that with the sun shining on you.

The upside of the reverse route is that you'll get to the "Seven Sacred Pools" (before Hana from this direction) earlier in the day, before everyone who drove the highway from the other direction starts arriving, usually starting around 2pm. If you're there in the morning, you'll have this amazing slice of paradise pretty much all to yourself!

The other major upside of reversing the route is that you don't get trapped in the traffic jams. If you leave Kahului any later than 9 am to head to Hana going the normal route, you'll often get trapped in a sloooow line of cars creeping along the winding curves. Going reverse, you'll mostly be driving against traffic.

LeeAnne

[blue cruiser]

[quote name='teamfour']Blue cruiser, can you describe your route in more detail? We want to drive from Kahului to Hana, but was not aware of a back way.[/QUOTE]

try the links below for info hope this helps, was just poasting to see if any one on these boards had done it and there reports on it.

[url]http://www.hawaiihighways.com/photos-Hana-Hwy.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.hawaiihighways.com/photos-Piilani-Hwy.htm[/url]

good luck when our you going to hawaii yourselves.

[blue cruiser]

thank you spleen and leeAnne for your help i appreciate your help to me and the many others that have learned from you coments on cruising and hawaii.
just counting the days down to the infinity .

[queenL]

I don't know what your situation is, but we considered renting a car and doing this ourselves. Hindsight, I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable driving either way. Between the lack of guard rails, sharp turns, narrow one-lane roads, blind curves, steep cliffs and falling rocks I wouldn't ride with anyone not familiar with its roads. Furthermore some rental car places do not allow you to take their vehicles over this terrain. Our guide told us that if you get stuck it costs big bucks to have someone come get you. Road to Hana was the best, but this is one place that we gladly booked a tour company for.

[daWoods]

Good point queenl. When we did the circuit last year, I noticed there was very little in the way of settlement, after Hana and until you get closer to the road to Haleakala. We did meet a lady with car trouble, and offered her a drive, but she didn't want to leave her car. A local, a park employee, came along too, and agreed it wasn't a good idea. We had run into a truck off the road, overturned and abandoned. It has also been stripped of anything valuable. The park employee told us it had been off the road for only a day or so. The lady with car trouble finally got in touch with someone to come tow her car rather than leave it there.

On the up side, the views on that side of the mountain are spectacular, and the rental company wasn't the wiser. :D