No matter where we have lived, we have always loved to play the game of "where does this road go". Many years ago, when I first moved to this island, this was the first little side trip we took.
Recently we decided to again take this little drive on "the road less traveled". In our area, it means the Old Mamalahoa Road, which takes some quirky twists and turns and regardless of where you are, its always picturesque.
We started our little drive just a mile north of us at the entrance of Kolekole Beach Park. In a previous little trip of our area, I showed a couple of pictures taken at the park and it's also the location where we celebrated our Thanksgiving day.
Kolekole Stream looking upstream from the bridge
The kolekole Stream framed by one of the old bridge openings.
As you drive north on the meandering road, you come to the little quaint and sleepy Village of Wailea. Just beyond, in Hakalau, you resume again on Highway 19 for a little bit until you can pick up the old road again just north of the Hakalau Gulch where the World Botanical Garden is located in Umauma.
Not sure of what these are called, but assume is some type of agave. These are on one side on the mauka (up mountain) perimeter of where the gardens start. I just loved the shapes and silvery greenish color!
Right in front of the welcome center for the gardens, there is an old sugar cane road that takes you mauka (up mountain) past several old sugar cane fields....some like the one above are now pastures for grazing stock of cattle and horses.
Continuing on up the old road, you come to this majestic old bayan tree. This is one of my favorite spots.....a very quiet and secluded area, next to the Umauma stream -above the falls area for which the World Botanical Gardens is best known - and where the road reaches it's end as it has been fenced out just beyond where the road crosses the stream.
The old banyan is just out of sight on the left handside of the above picture. The road ends here, so you have to turn around and go back down the way you came up until you pick up the Old Mamalahoa Road again. in front of the gardens.
The same Umauma stream, but lower down, where it meets the Old Mamalahoa Road going north.
Poinsettia "hedge" lines the front of this beautiful white picket fence bordering on the old road...
Papaya tree on the edge of the road....loaded with 'mini' papayas.
Our little trip ended at the Waikaumalu Park, just south of the little village of Ninole, where you pick up Highway 19 again. After this little trek, we decided to return home, since rain was starting to come down again.
The farthest north of this whole little side trip is no more than a 6 mile radius from our house.
