Balabanova All Over

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[West Maui, HI, Nov 24, 2022] For my 5th day on Maui, I planned on taking a tour of the west side of the island. The towns of Kaanapali and Lahaina are the most popular and are home to most of the resorts on the island. But I planned on taking the scenic route there, starting with a hike on Waihee Ridge (A on the map below), then continuing on another precarious… Read More

[Hana, Haleakala National Park & Kihei, HI, Nov 23, 2022] I originally planned to go back to central Maui the way I came, through the Road to Hana. I just assumed that the road dead-ended past Hana and it didn’t complete a full loop around east Maui, which would not be all that unusual for Hawaii. But I needed to go past Hana to visit the Kipahulu unit of Haleakala National Park,… Read More

[Hana, HI, Nov 22, 2022] The Hana Highway (colloquially referred to as The Road to Hana) is a 64 mile-long road connecting Kahului in central Maui to the town of Hana in east Maui. The term “highway” is probably the opposite of what this road actually is. It’s a twisty, windy, narrow thing with 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one lane wide, and approximately 620 curves. Modern road construction to… Read More

[Haleakala National Park / Makawao, HI, Nov 21, 2022] Unfortunately, not only did the bad weather at the Haleakala summit hold, it got worse. At dinner last night, as I was refreshing the web cam yet again, I noticed a wind advisory for the summit pop up. 30 to 40 mile-per-hour winds with wind gusts up to 50 mph! Yikes! It didn’t look good, but I decided to rely on the live… Read More

[Haleakala National Park / Kula, HI / Paia, HI, Nov 20, 2022] My first full day on Maui began with one of the most quintessential experiences on the island – watching sunrise at Haleakala National Park. I had made my reservation for the park 2 months in advance, as is required for anyone entering the park between 3 am and 7 am every day of the year. Sunrise was supposed to happen… Read More