A Walk in the Clouds

Our Maui guidebook cautioned that we needed to start the Waihe'e Ridge Trail hike early, before the clouds moved in. However a wrong turn on the drive to the trailhead took us in circles and trumped that plan. The trail starts off with a steep incline on a cement road. Being rather out of shape I huffed and puffed up the 200 feet under the already hot sun before we reached a shady forest filled with guava, kukui, swamp mahogany and Cook Island pines.

After an all too brief respite under the cooling tree canopy, the trail opens up again but this time to distracting views.

I was loving this hike. Often we tramp through miles of dark forest before reaching a scenic little lake or viewpoint. But the views on this little hike were non-stop.

In fact, I was so distracted that I miscalculated my footing while traversing through some muck and had to spend the rest of the hike with mud squishing around in my shoes.

And then it began. It started with this little guy.

Pretty soon the invasion was upon us.

There they were, the clouds, as promised. At first I was disappointed to lose our views. But soon I was charmed by the magic of walking among the clouds and the peek-a-boo views of the surrounding hills, valley and ocean. 

Muddy, hot and sweaty, we decided to take one more drive and short hike... to a dip in the ocean at Big Beach (which was so very cleverly renamed by the hippies who forgot its Hawai'ian name, Onelea, which means long sands).