Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [338]
The park also has one cabin. Unlike other state park cabins, this one has gas lanterns and a wood-burning stove but no electricity or refrigerator. Click here for details on permits and reservations.
KEOKEA
Modest as it may be, Keokea is the last real town before Hana if you’re swinging around the southern part of the island. The sum total of the town center consists of a coffee shop, an art gallery, a gas pump and two small stores, the Ching Store and the Fong Store.
Sights & Activities
Drawn by rich soil, Hakka Chinese farmers migrated to this remote corner of Kula at the turn of the 20th century. Their influence is readily visible throughout the village. Keokea’s landmark St John’s Episcopal Church (c 1907) still bears its name in Chinese characters. For a time Sun Yat-sen, father of the Chinese nationalist movement, lived on the outskirts of Keokea. A statue of Sun Yat-sen and a small park dedicated to him can be found along the Kula Hwy (Hwy 37), 1.7 miles beyond Grandma’s Coffee House. The park has picnic tables and sweeping views of west Maui and its hillside windmills.
Thompson Ranch ( 878-1910; Middle Rd; 2hr ride $100; departs at 10am) offers scenic horseback rides through the cool Upcountry bordering Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area.
Sleeping
Moonlight Garden B&B ( 878-6977, 866-878-6297; www.mauimoonlightgarden.com; 8980 Kula Hwy; d $135) For a relaxing taste of rural Maui, stay at Moonlight. Quiet and secluded, yet within walking distance of the village center, these two freestanding cottages sit amid fruit trees and stands of bamboo. Each is spacious with a full kitchen and cheerful Hawaiian decor, while the views from the decks sweep clear out to the sea.
Eating
Grandma’s Coffee House ( 878-2140; 9232 Kula Hwy; pastries $3-5, deli fare $6-10; 7am-5pm) Think Kona’s the only place with primo Hawaii-grown coffee? Just check out the brew at Grandma’s. This earthy café dishes up homemade pastries, hearty sandwiches and deli salads. Grandma’s family has been growing coffee in Keokea for generations. If you want to see their bean-laden trees just take your goodies out to the side patio.
′ULUPALAKUA RANCH
This sprawling 20,000-acre ranch was established in the mid-19th century by James Makee, a whaling captain who jumped ship and befriended Hawaiian royalty. King David Kalakaua, the ‘Merrie Monarch,’ became a frequent visitor who loved to indulge in late-night rounds of poker and champagne. The ranch is still worked by paniolo – note the sign on the ranch store warning cowboys to wipe the shit off their boots before entering! Some 6000 head of cattle, as well as a small herd of Rocky Mountain elk, dot the hillside pastures.
The ranch is green in more ways than one. It’s staged to host Upcountry’s first wind energy farm and is restoring a rare native dryland forest on the upper slopes of ranch property.
Today most people come to visit Tedeschi Vineyards, Maui’s sole winery, which is on ′Ulupalakua Ranch land. After the winery, it’s another 25 undulating miles to Kipahulu along the remote Pi′ilani Hwy (Click here).
Sights
Tedeschi Vineyards ( 878-6058; www.mauiwine.com; Kula Hwy; 9am-5pm; tours 10:30am, 1:30pm & 3pm) offers free tours and tastings in the historic stone cottage where King David Kalakaua once slept. In the 1970s, while awaiting its first grape harvest, the winery decided to take advantage of Maui’s prickly fruit. Today its biggest hit is the sweet Maui Splash, a light blend of pineapple and passion fruit. Other pineapple novelties worth a taste: the dry Maui Blanc and the sparkling Hula O’Maui. This is no Napa Valley, however, and the grape wines are less of a splash.
Don’t miss the fascinating little exhibit on ranch history and ecology at the side of the tasting room. Opposite the winery, see the stack remains of the Makee Sugar Mill, built in 1878.
Eating
′Ulupalakua Ranch Store ( 878-2561; Kula Hwy; burgers $8; grill 11am-2:30pm, store 9am-5pm) Sidle up to the life-sized wooden cowboys on the front porch