Day 2 of our Hana Adventure Extraordinaire began with an absolutely glorious sunrise – since our body clocks had yet to fully adjust to Hawaii time, we were up in plenty of time to see it. We decided rather than check out and leave Hana directly, we had time to drive west up the road to Waianapanapa State Beach and hike there, then return to the hotel to clean up before leaving the area for good. There are many Hawaiian place names that give us anglos fits, and Waianapanapa (Vah-ee-ah-nah-pa-nah-pa) is one of our favorites – it is here that one of Maui’s most popular landmarks, the black sand beach, is located, and the park’s entrance is just a couple of miles west of Hana town. We arrived at the beachside campground just before 7am and began walking southeastward along the clifftop trail – there is also a northbound trail that we would walk after the southern portion. The trail first led us out to the open cliffs where there were signs advertising a blowhole – however, we could find no holes that were blowing, so we followed what we thought to be the trail out and around some thick brush east of the signs. We quickly ran out of trail, and it looked like a very damp bushwhack to get through this section, so we returned to the blowhole – of course, we found directional signs further back that we had walked right by, so we got back on the main trail and continued east along the cliffs. We passed a small cemetery near the campground before leaving all signs of civilization behind – the lava rock looked all the more black as we made our way under overcast skies, and we could see dark skies to the east where rain squalls had yet to make landfall. We’ve said before how one gets so used to the extraordinary beauty that it becomes ordinary, yet this trip along the cliffs always seemed to have something new to offer. We came to a spot where others had spelled out names and greetings with pieces of white coral – we took quite a bit of time to spell out a shameless plug for the blog before continuing on past a sacred temple site. The trail is part of the ancient King’s Highway, routes used by Hawaiians for trade and travel, and there were large stepping stones placed within gravel beds – it had begun to sprinkle steadily by this time, and the stones were often a bit slick. We soon could see ahead an old fisherman’s shelter on a shelf above the sea – we sensed it was going to start raining harder and we wanted to explore the north trail as well, so this seemed like a good point to turn around and head back to the campground. We had not gone very far before the squalls broke upon us – the sprinkles turned quickly into a full-on tropical downpour, and we hurried to the shelter of a short palm tree and scrambled to pull out our rain gear. Of course, no sooner than we had donned our rain shells, the rain abated, the monsoon lasting all of two or three minutes – we suddenly found ourselves in bright sunshine, really the first we had had all morning. The skies continued to clear as we returned to the campground, and we found the steps down to the black sand beach. Jane had been here before more than 30 years ago, so she replicated her high school graduation trip experience by posing for a picture on the sand. We found the trail north and followed it up and over a low ridge into the adjacent cove, then up to the cliffs again, passing through some dense foliage to stark lava fields that make up Pukaulua Point. The trail continues some distance north and west, but we wanted to allow ourselves plenty of time to get cleaned up back at the hotel so we turned around again – the rain had moved inland by this time and made for gorgeous views as we made our way south. Just 3-1/2 miles for both trails, but a great way to begin the day.