Day 3 in Maui was our 1 year anniversary! We woke up very early to drive to the Venus Pool because the views are supposed to be spectacular at sunrise. We missed it by about 30 minutes because the drive back there took a bit longer than we anticipated, but it was still beautiful.
We popped a squat on a hill overlooking where the pools met the ocean and had a little breakfast of banana bread. We had the whole site to ourselves, which is extremely rare for any sightseeing spot along the Hana Highway. We didn't even mind when a light rain started to fall. Which led to finding this when we got back to the car...
It was tough to leave this beautiful site, but we were in need of more supplies so we headed back to Hana to stock up. On our way back to Kipahulu we wound up at Hamoa Beach for an early morning swim and to watch the surfers. We were there at the perfect time... it was just us, the surfers, and a few locals doing some sort of traditional Hawaiian blessing on the hills above us. It made for the best beach experience of the trip thus far, despite nearly drowning twice when I got pummeled by huge waves. Seriously. Absolutely blasted. It wasn't pretty.
Back at Kipahulu, we managed to nab our same campsite and fixed up a snack. The rain had come back a bit, but it had been falling on and off all day so we decided to continue with our plan to hike the Pipiwai Trail. The first falls along the trail, the Makahiku Falls, sadly weren't falling. Based on what the book said, we had high hopes for taking a swim in the Infinity Pool but it also wasn't flowing and was covered in mosquitoes. It still made for some pretty pictures, though...
There were more pretty pools and vegetation along the trail, leading up to an amazing bamboo forest that was like another world. When the breeze would blow the bamboo would knock against each other like a wind chime.
Now comes the part of this hike that I debated about including in this post... It was around the bamboo forest that we got stuck behind two female hikers. Two insanely slow, oblivious hikers that walked even slower when they talked to each other about stupid unimportant things like cats and how one of them doesn't like stairs. I wish I was kidding. The hike at this point was just a narrow boardwalk, making it impossible to walk around them. Now, I've been on dozens of hikes in my life and I assumed it was common knowledge that the proper hiking etiquette is to step aside and let faster hikers pass you. And when I say common knowledge what I really mean is common sense. I've really never experienced anything quite like it. Which is why I felt the need to write about it... so that no one I know and love will ever have to experience the misery that was the last mile and a half of that hike. So here's my little PSA: if you're on a hike and two very nice, non-aggressive people are clearly walking faster than you, please step aside and let them pass. Sorry to get all preachy. I'll move on now. Oh - one more thing! Feel free to apply this same common sense rule to driving in the left lane. If you're not actively passing someone, please move over. No matter how fast you think you're going, there's always someone who wants to go faster. Thanks. Okay, now I'm really moving on.
Thankfully the payoff at the end of the hike made that last mile and a half totally worth it - the Waimoku Falls...
It's hard to get a sense for the scale in this picture, but the falls are 400 feet tall and you can sort of see the size compared to the person in the blue in the bottom right corner.
Jared took a quick dip in the pool under the falls, then we headed back down the trail toward the campsite. We dropped our stuff and went for a swim at the Seven Sacred Pools. It was so nice and refreshing and a much needed opportunity to get off the last of the sand from Hamoa. The sun showers were still falling on and off, so we ended up spending much of the rest of the afternoon stuck inside the camper. We made a nice lunch and Jared settled in for a nap while I engrossed myself in Little Bee (I highly recommend reading it if you haven't already.) Not long after after lunch, the biggest, brightest, and most complete rainbow I've ever seen started to appear over the ocean.
It continued to get stronger, and then...
DOUBLE RAINBOW! OMG!! :-) It was very exciting. We pretty much spent the next 2 hours transfixed by this rainbow.
Here's what happened in between this last photo and the next...
The monsoon finally stopped and the double rainbow reappeared. By now it had gotten so big I had to walk clear across the campground to be able to fit half of it in the frame. (That's Betty in the bottom right...)
It was awesome in every sense of the word. Sadly, more rains arrived (probably still Jared's fault) and didn't seem to be letting up this time. We made hot dogs and chili for our anniversary dinner, then got boozy and played cards while we waited for the rain to stop. It didn't. The rain and wind gusts lasted all night long. Nothing says Happy Anniversary like having a terrible night's sleep in the top bunk of a VW camper because you left the back open during a rain storm and the regular bed got soaked. Good times. :)
Day 4 couldn't come soon enough after such a crappy night... up next - we see more rainbows, summit Haleakala, and head west toward better weather.