West Maui Drive

I made the West Maui Drive by myself, starting early in the morning, driving north from Kaanapali and going clockwise all the way around West Maui Mountain. It was two days after our visit to the Nakalele Blowhole and Dragon's Teeth . I was on a fairly tight time schedule, and needed to get back to the condo by 10:00 am.

The drive to the mushroom-shaped rock is three miles past the Nakalele Blowhole or 17 ½ miles north from Kaanapali on Highway 30 (Honoapiilani Highway). There's a turnoff more than ½ mile past the 42 mile marker. Take one of the short trails towards the ocean (about a 15 minute hike).

If you come here you will probably get a better picture of the mushroom-shaped rock. The early morning sun wasn't quite up from behind the morning clouds when I took this photo. I took several additional photos here but they didn't turn out at all. (This, of course, is just one more excuse to come back here on our next Maui vacation.) Still, the view was amazing.



The bellstone is only a short distance passed the parking area for the mushroom-shaped rock on the volcano side of the road. This large volcanic rock (about 8 feet tall) is supposed to make a metallic sound (hence the name) if you hit it in the right place with a handheld stone.

The white circles are places where people have hit the bellstone. There are a few places where the sound approaches metallic, but you have to hit it fairly hard, which sends a somewhat uncomfortable "rock-hitting-rock" vibration through your arm. And you will probably feel a little silly, (or a lot silly) hitting it while people watch you as they drive by. (I believe no one saw me at 5:30 am.)



This is another photo of the bellstone taken after my hike to the Olivine Pools. This is looking at the southeast side of the bellstone.

Just a short distance past the bellstone, you'll see a dirt road/trail on the ocean side. Park there and hike one of the trails down to the Olivine Pools.

As you can see, the ocean spray was coming into those Olivine Pools closest to the ocean.

I'm guessing that I would have got a better photo later in the morning or in the afternoon.

However, I did have the entire place to myself, and I did enjoy the serenity and beauty of the place in the early morning hours.

I couldn't help but notice these conifer trees that appear to have grown in a flattened state, hugging the ground, due to the strong winds in this area.

On the way back up from the Olivine Pools I took this photo of the red volcanic ash turned into rock that was deposited anciently by one of West Maui Mountain's many eruptions. The contrast with the green plant makes it really stand out.

As you can see (above), there are some sections of the road that are quite narrow. So it's recommended that you do it driving eastbound because many find it more comfortable pulling off on the right side of the road away from the ocean to make room for oncoming traffic.

The grasslands and farmlands here look so idyllic.

These homes are on the east side of West Maui, about 8-10 miles south of the Olivine Pools. I imagine that these estates, which are close to the oceanfront, are worth a large amount of money because they're big, in Maui, on significant acreage, and the view...

I continued to drive clockwise around West Maui Mountain. At Wailuku, I did take a detour to make one last stop at the Iao Needle. It was well worth the time.

I wasn't able to find out what their purpose was. If you know, please send me a note on our Comments Page .

I hope you enjoyed some of the photos from my West Maui Drive. Aloha!

Click here to go back to Inexpensive Maui Activities

Click here to go back to Barefoot In Maui Home