A Hike in the Haleakala National Park

                                                         Us at one of the many waterfalls to the top

                                                   Walking into the beginning of the bamboo forest

                                                                     The 400 foot Waimoku Fall

Today we took a beautiful hike in the Haleakala National Park. It’s a two mile hike up a foothill of the Halekala Volcano with the destination being the 400 foot Waimoka Falls. There are so many waterfalls here in Maui, it’s easy to say, oh, look, another waterfall, but today’s was exceptional.

One of the highlights was walking through a mile of bamboo rain forest. A rain forest or jungle –what’s the difference?  We looked it up: a rainforest doesn’t have much dense growth on the ground because the trees make it too dark. A jungle grows when the trees are cleared or cut back and thick foliage grows on the ground.)  So, by this definition, it was definitely a rain forest.

            The bamboo is straight up, none being more than a baseball bat’s width and close together. We couldn’t see farther than ten feet in. And when the breeze blew, it was a hundred wind chimes above.