Hawaii 5-0

The stretch of road  along Highway 360 from Kahului to Hana is only about 50 miles long, and yet takes hours to travel by car.  It traces the northern coast of Maui, a rugged and spectacular product of volcanoes, erosion, trade winds and Pacific surf. "I Survived the Road to Hana" is a popular t-shirt in the local shops and it's easy to see why. Dozens of hairpin curves, one-lane bridges and plenty of tourist traffic keep the average speed to less than 20 mph. The road is always slick from brief Hawaiian rain showers, and each visiting driver is challenged to not focus too long on the ocean views or roadside waterfalls.

I made the drive with my wife on a mid-December day last year. It was my 50th birthday and I had actually put some thought into where I would like to spend it. In the last year or so I had hiked the Grand Canyon, Yosemite's Half Dome and Macchu  Picchuu. Each of them exhausting, unique and unforgettable. This time, I decided, it would be nice to finish off the fifth decade with something easy and beautiful. I chose Hawaii's Pipiwai Trail.

Pipiwai is accessed through the Kipahulu Park along the eastern slope of Maui. It is popular and very well maintained. Stone steps and engineered lumber boardwalks have been installed over the years, and this is really less of a hike than a leisurely stroll through the woods. That is, if your idea of leisure involves signs that warn of fatal results from getting too close to cliffs or jumping from bridges.

Just beyond the town of Hana, at mile marker 49 we passed through Kipahulu's entrance and found the parking lot at the trail head. It was about half full. The usual hopes for a secluded walk through paradise gave way to the reality of the place:  Maui is beautiful but easily accessible to many tourists and we were visiting at a busy time of year. We followed a few other hikers to the trail head signs and started up just before noon.

After only about 30 minutes of easy climbing along the muddy path, a  huge Banyan tree provided a great photo spot. From there,  nearly a mile of bamboo forest towered above us, blocking out the sky as we climbed to the west.  When the wind sped up overhead, those trees seemed to clap together, another one of nature's random and disjointed musical solos.

The turnaround point was Waimoku Falls - 200 feet high and better than anything that we had seen from our car. A cathedral of water fell from the jungle above - past shining black walls of gently stratified basalt, draped in emerald green moss. It crashed into the canyon before us, creating a beaded rainbow and veil of mist on dark boulders of volcanic rock.

After only a brief rest and a few pictures, we headed back down the trail to the visitors center and the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean.

Charles Lindbergh spent his last years living along this isolated coastline. His life was heroic and at times controversial, but in the last years of his life, he was a man that outwardly expressed his love for the wild and natural places of this earth. He spoke out passionately in defense of living things both above and beneath the sea.

Lindbergh is buried near his old home on Maui, less than a mile from Kipahulu Park. With a few hours of daylight left, I decided to visit his final resting place, just down the road.

I found the small cemetery and his plot behind the Palapala Ho'omau Church- close enough to hear the soft rumble of Pacific surf on the ragged cliffs below. Rains and salt breezes off the sea are slowly eroding everything around here, I thought.  Someday, his grave marker will become difficult to read. Aviators not even born yet will surely commit to its restoration, and renew the same inscription from Psalms that he chose in his last years:  "...If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea..."

No one else was behind the church with me that afternoon. I stood for a while watching the Pacific, shades of deep and brilliant blue, churning, full of life. A perfect spot to be on this day, I decided.

I returned to the car and headed back to Lahaina, along that beautiful winding road to the west.