Balabanova All Over

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[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

[Rocky Mountain National Park, Jul 29, 2022] The crappy weather the day before turned our hiking plans around quite a bit. We did not intend to hike a strenuous 10.5-mile hike the day before our half marathon, but we didn’t have much of a choice. The hike to Sky Pond is one of the most popular ones in the park. Sky Pond is the ultimate destination but there are three more lakes… Read More

[Sequoia National Park, Aug 26, 2020] On day 2 of this trip, we decided to devote our time to Sequoia National Park. It was established the same year as Kings Canyon (1890) to protect over 400,000 acres of forests. The park contains the highest peak in the contiguous US, Mt. Whitney at 14,421 ft (4,441 m) above sea level. Sequoia and Kings Canyon are adjacent and the National Park Service treats them… Read More

[Kings Canyon National Park, Aug 25, 2020] Kings Canyon was established in 1890 under the name General Grant National Park. In 1940, the park was expanded and renamed to Kings Canyon. It’s named after the glacier-carved valley more than a mile deep, making it one of the deepest canyons in North America. With air quality and heat still on the oppressive side, we decided to spend our first full day visiting the… Read More