Honokaa

January 8, 2018

Here’s the plan for today’s ride to Honokaa.

While you’re waiting for a Bit of narrative to appear, you could reminisce a bit by viewing Rachael’s video from yesterday’s riders the Red Road:

———

Patricia heard last night that I was an early riser, so she considerately set out the coffee pot and instructions. It was there waiting for me in the morning when I left the room about five, after lying awake listening to roosters for the last hour. The sound of coffee percolating was a welcome complement to the rooster calls as I sat at the kitchen table and wrote up yesterday’s journal entry.

Rachael arose about seven, and shortly after we were packed and departing for breakfast at a downtown pancake house (Patricia doesn’t really do much of a breakfast, although she did put out a delicious mango and bagels for the road). Patricia was up and out the door at the same time, on the way to her morning workout.

After a filling meal, we headed over to the Hilo Bike Hub. Rachael needs a new mirror (hers broke when her Bike fell over a few days back); and I need some brake work. Mine need some major work - they basically quit functioning not long before we got to Hilo - and as long as we’re going to a bike store I may as well have them done well.

The Bike Hub is open, and they do have mirrors; so Rachael feels mores secure now. And, they do have a mechanic - but not for me. He only works Tuesday through Saturday, so we’ve arrived at an inconvenient time. We’re sent three blocks down the road though to Mid-Pacific Wheels, which does have a very good mechanic on duty this morning. The owner looks at our brakes, squeezes the lever on one and finds very little braking action. I tell him that’s the good one, and his eyebrows raise up.

The pads all need replacing. The Bike uses replaceable pads, but unfortunately they don’t have them in stock so he’d have to replace the whole brake.

Or, I could give him my pads! I’ve brought my own spares. Twenty minutes later, we’re on the road, Honokaa-bound.

Rachael and the owner of Mid-Pacific Wheels chat about the delights of travel and the good (=retired) life.

I really can work on my own brakes, but as long as we have an expert at hand we might as well take advantage of it.

Mauna Kea watches over Hilo Bay. This is a much prettier scene than when we hiked in last night.

We have beautiful conditions for today’s ride -mostly sunny, a modest southeast wind - ideal. I had been afraid of today’s day, because Hilo gets so much rain. I had written down on our planning document ‘could be the wettest day of the trip); but that was yesterday a it turned out.

I was also worried about today’s ride because of the potential for bad traffic on the belt highway that circles the island - for much of the ride there is no other alternative, and I imagined traffic on the northern side of the island might be worse.The first part of the ride was fine though - after a few painless miles on the belt (two lane, fairly busy, but a good shoulder), we turned off onto the old highway still exists here for a few miles. It’s gorgeous - like yesterday’s Red Road, the narrow, sinuous Old Marmalahoa Highway snakes its way through the rain forest and along the coast, offering one knockout view after another.

The Old Mamalahoa Highway - another fantastic cycling road.

On the Old Mamalahoa Highway - stilt roots

Rachael approaches travel differently than I do. I like to look far ahead and plan out the entire route months in advance. She’s turning into a just in time traveler though, doing route research a day or two in advance and then asking me why we aren’t going to the latest, greatest thing she’s just read about.

Why aren’t we going to the Green Sand Beach, she wanted to know on the south side several days ago. Look at this picture! It’s so green! It’s beautiful!

We aren’t going because it’s way off Route and would add twenty miles and another significant climb to an already long day (this was the day when we barely made it to Volcano before sundown).

Well, then we at least have to go to the Black Sand Beach. It’s beautiful too. And they have turtles! That wasn’t in the plan either - we were going to ride a stretch of the Cane Haul Road and avoid the traffic for a few miles, but it doesn’t go near the beach. We changed the plan though, went to the Black Sand Beach, and it was brilliant. And there were turtles!

Today it’s Akaka Falls, a spectacle she just read about last night. Look at this picture! It’s beautiful! So we’re going there. It’s not too far off-route - just three miles. Unfortunately all of them are pretty much straight up. We turn away from the coast at Pepeekeo and start climbing.

Approaching Pepeekeo. This is a good angle for observing the Mauna Kea observatories.

Pepeekeo has all the essentials you could hope to find in a small town - including a pizzeria and movie theater.

On Lauhulu Road, on the steep climb to Akaka Falls

Actually, the climb wasn’t as bad as all that -a thousand feet in three miles, with intermittent steeper stretches of about 12 percent. At the top we lock up the bikes, fork over a buck each to the attendant on duty, and join the crowds for the short loop walk to the falls lookout.

Crowds are here for a reason. It’s an astonishing short walk, as much for the vegetation as for the falls themselves. Rachael was right. Don’t miss it.

Passing some impressive bamboo on the walk to Akaka Falls

On the short, very popular walk to Akaka Falls

Akaka Falls drops freely for 442 feet. Impressive and beautiful, but I was surprised to see that our (Oregon’s) Multnomah Falls is half again as high.

It is really hard to believe the diversity and color of the plant life here.

This vine-shrouded giant towers above the canopy

Cooling off before dropping down to the coast

We made much better time dropping down from the falls than in the other direction. Must have been the extra jolt from that coconut milk.

The rest of the ride to Honokaa was businesslike. Once we dropped back to the belt highway we still had thirty miles of riding ahead of us and it was mid afternoon already. We stayed on the highway the whole way and made good time, blown along toward the end by a nice tailwind. We stopped briefly at about halfway at a convenience store, I think in Laupahoehoe, to get off the saddle and down a quart of milk.When we arrived in Honokaa it was already feeling darkish - the day feels quite a bit shorter on the north side of the mountains.

We’re staying in the historical hotel in Honokaa - an almost century old building with a lot of character. Our room has a gorgeous view north across the Pacific. We have a gecko on the wall of our bathroom to greet us when we arrive. How lucky is that!

We eat next door at the Last Chance Saloon. The place is packed, every TV on, every eye glued to it. It’s a few minutes before the end of the fourth quarter of the national championship game. I’m no football fan, but it’s an incredible finish - you couldn’t ask for a more dramatic ending to a big game, and I’m as wrapped up as everyone else by the time it ends.

The pizza was good too.

Tonight, once more with the tree frogs. That seems to be the ritual on this side of the island - tree frogs late into the night; an hour of silence; and then a changing of the guard, and the roosters take over.

What luck! Our hotel room comes equipped with a gecko (a gold dust day gecko, to be precise)

I’m in no way a fan of football, but this is as good as it gets - the final minutes of the Georgia-Alabama game for the national championship. What an incredible finish!

——

Total elevation gain: today, 4,600’; for the tour, 20,900’

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 303 miles (488 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Robert EwingLooks like you’re having fun!

Don’t forget the Noodle Club in Waimea – Parker Center or if you more salad/deli style fixings the Lilikoi in the back of the Parker Center. If you really want to celebrate with Michelin 3 star local dinning go to Merriman’s.

https://www.merrimanshawaii.com/waimea/

http://noodleclubwaimea.com/

Aloha
Robert – Western Flyer
Reply to this comment
6 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Robert EwingYes, we’re having a blast! I was thinking of you this morning, and we’ll definitely check out the noodle shop this evening. Rocky gets to choose though - I get to pick most of the routes, she gets to pick most of the meals. Fair enough.
Reply to this comment
6 years ago