We spent two nights in Hana at a lovely Vrbo that had plenty of space for us to stretch out, laundry to wash some of our dirty hiking clothes, and a couch to snuggle while we started our week of family Christmas movies. Hana is usually a quiet, rural town. There were cows (soon to be Maui beef!) grazing in the pasture across the street from our house! Add to that winter and COVID, and it felt nearly deserted. There were no real restaurants or shops in town, but there is a food truck scene. We ate two dinners and one lunch there - luckily discovering the good Thai food truck after the first night's bad taco truck. (Who has ever had to throw away a plate of tacos because they didn't taste good?! Who knew that was even possible?!)
The afternoon we arrived was overcast, but we briefly went to Hamoa Beach. If we had been there in the summer, we would have set up our chairs and stayed all day! It was beautiful and calm. Instead, William waded in wearing pants, sneakers and socks, since he had not heeded my advice about Keens for the day's roadtrip.
Our full day there was to continue beyond Hana to the coastal entrance of Haleakala. The road was just as/more twisty and windy with rock slides and wet roads thanks to all the rain. The parking lot was a giant pool of mud, as well! I wonder how easy that was to get off the rental car when we returned it.....Since we had waited out the rain before lunch and driving, we only had about 2.5-3 hours in the park before it closed. Luckily this hike was much easier than the summit hike! We did the Pipiwai Trail which is a 4 mile roundtrip to a waterfall , bamboo forest, and then more/bigger waterfall (Waimoku Falls is the biggest)! It was absolutely astounding. It has been raining, so the falls were full. There was also running water on some parts of the trail. And others were muddy messes. But we had our waterproof hiking boots so were much better equipped than those wearing sneakers that got soaked or flip flops that got slippery.
