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Nakalele BlowholeOne of our new favorites is the beautiful Nakalele Blowhole, located on the north side of West Maui.
We visited it for the first time early Sunday afternoon. After attending church, we returned to our condo (at the Whaler Condominiums in Kaanapali), changed clothes, gathered a quick picnic lunch for the kids to eat in the car, and headed north on Honoapiilani Highway (i.e., Highway 30). Along the way there we saw some beautiful beaches with red cliffs.
For us, the latter half of the 14 ½ mile drive from Kaanapali reminded us of scenes from
The Road to Hana
on the opposite side of the island; lush, green landscape, hidden beaches, and even a home or two tucked away, and one one-lane bridge.
About ½ mile past the 30 mile marker is an unpaved parking area on the ocean side of the road. You will see several small boulders placed between the parking area and the grassy trail area. This view is near the beginning of the trail (see left). From this point, it is about a 25-30 minute descent hike down to the blowhole (under ¼ mile).
We found three docile donkeys grazing on the wild grass near the beginning of the trail, which my sons thoroughly enjoyed seeing. One cried when he realized we wouldn't be taking these animals back with us to the condo.
There are several dirt trails leading towards the ocean that converge into a couple of trails that lead down to the Nakalele Blowhole. The trail at times can be somewhat steep and rocky. I would highly recommend wearing walking shoes (I wore my Nike Air 360 running shoes) or hiking boots, and would recommend not wearing open-toed sandals. This is a wider view (see below) of the blowhole, and there is a rainbow visible in mist.
Both my four and seven year old sons were able to hike down to the blowhole, but both needed adult assistance because they wore only flip-flops, which of course provided no traction. The trail is a little steep in places, roughly two-thirds of the trail is dirt, and the last third is mostly exposed lava rock. I had no traction problems with my running shoes. The wind velocity was about 15 – 30 miles/hour, which is not unusual for north Maui.
We saw some amazing colors in the rock, including red, orange and green.
This beautiful view (above) is looking southeast along the shoreline not far from the Nakalele Blowhole.
A word of caution: Please use common sense and don’t get too close to the blowhole -- you wouldn’t want to fall into it. Sometimes a larger wave will come down onto the blowhole area which could potentially knock you down. Translation: Don't stand in the area between the ocean and the blowhole.
This was as close as I was willing to get (still getting misted from the waves hitting the rock "wall" on my right--a wall separating me from a very active Pacific Ocean). Between spouts of water, it's easier to see some of the bright red/orange colors in the exposed lava rock.
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This was my best close-up shot of the Nakalele Blowhole spouting water. And when it does, and you can actually feel the ground vibrate under your feet--amazing! 
