I've gotten behind . In January we went to Maui, Hawai'i and I saved one post of the most delightful road that we discovered when we were exploring the Island. We had been to the Big Island of Hawai'i before but this was the first time we came to Maui and when I was searching for things to do, the only "Must Do" was to drive the Road to Hana. (click HERE for prev Post)
Other than Hana, we were going to relax and just enjoy the warm, summerlike weather. We don't feel comfortable being in high end resorts (in general) so decided to stay in Lahaina. Luckily the place is full of tourists and had many restaurants & stores which were open late for us to browse and fondle. It seems that we chose a place right in the middle of the action on the main street. Back at our hotel we could just sit on our lanai and watch the constant streams of cars and people walking up and down the strip.
Now Maui is not a big Island and there are not that many roads. We managed to sightsee a bit and went south to the beach areas in Kihei where our friends usually stay. We also found the "clothing optional" beach but we arrived very late in the afternoon and the weather was a bit iffy. We also drove up to Kaanapali to see what the upscale resorts looked like, but we like to travel off the beaten path. Little did we know that this road was "restricted" to rental vehicles. It was the road around the north tip of the Island known simply as Hwy 340.
View Larger Map
It is a one lane road, with little pavement (mostly gravel). It is a shelf road cut into the side of the cliffs and goes up and down as it follows the coastline. It is one-lane with few pull outs. As you round the corner you have to survey the road up to the other side to make sure there are no cars coming down from the other side. If none, then you can go . . . If there are cars coming the opposite direction you have to wait for them, otherwise one of you will have to back up the mountain to a place where you can pull over to let them pass. There is not enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, and there are NO guard rails. (and a steep drop off too)
I thought that this road was more of an adventure than the Road to Hana. I would highly recommend that you drive this road if you visit Maui. Luckily I brought my GoProHD as otherwise there would be few or no photos. There are no places to pull over.
It's official, that road would scare the bejeezus out of me if I had to drive/ride it. Four wheels or two, it wouldn't matter.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous views though. Although if there in person I'd never see the views as my eyes would be squeezed shut.
Was Mrs. Skoot your videographer? I can picture her holding onto the tripod lifting it up and rotating it to catch the views.
Great video Bob.
Trobairitz:
Deleteactually, we didn't think this road would be as good as the one to Hana, as on the map it had "WIDE" lines. Little did we know it was a single track with one way traffic.
Mrs Skoot did all the driving while I manned the video (GoProHD). She was freaked out when the paved highway stopped and we had to go along the side of the mountain. I wished there were places to stop. I would have loved to just breathe in the beauty and contemplate for a bit. Bringin the GoProHD was an afterthought, I only grabbed it at the last moment.
Nice looking V-Strom road!!!
ReplyDeleteDan:
DeleteI was thinking the same thing but it would have been a challenging road, even on two wheels. It reminded me of Ice Road Truckers Peru, or Andes. We only saw one Harley going the other way. We didn't see many motorcycles there, but lots of scooters. They only have a couple of short sections of highway and you would be bored having to ride the same ones every day