One area of Maui that we had yet to visit was Makawao State Forest Reserve, so we decided to spend Chris’ last full day exploring here. Makawao is in the “upcountry”, the farming and ranching region strung out north-to-south along Haleakala’s western slopes, lying on the northwest shoulder of the volcano. The landscape is variable here, with grassy fields interspersed with deep woods. We had read about a couple of different options for hikers in the area, the first being the Kahakapao loop trail, a 6-mile route that switchbacks steeply up one side of a gulch and descends down the other side – one of the newer trails in the system, it was constructed with mountain biking in mind, so its many turns are banked and gradual. We decided to try this one, the trailhead located deep in the forest up another one of Maui’s seemingly trademark roads, steep and narrow. We were surprised to find such a large parking lot, well-graded and freshly graveled, at the end of the road – several mountain bikers were there getting ready to go, but we changed our mind and decided to check out the other nearby hike, a 2-1/2 mile trip to Waihou Spring (truth be told, Chris just didn’t feel like walking another six miles with 1,500′ of gain/loss – Jane was willing). Well, the other trail, as it turned out, was neither nearby nor 2-1/2 miles long. Maps are often confusing tools here – what appears to be close is often made far by tortuous road routing as well as by the lack of roads in the first place. The Waihou Spring trail lay just two gulches southwest, yet we had to drive all the way back to Makawao, move one street further west, then follow that road south for nearly six miles as it wound its way up several thousand feet to the trailhead – it took well over 30 minutes to make the transfer. Ours was the only car in the parking area, and we could see the broad trail leading west into the forest – we expected to follow it west to a loop, take that south, west, then north to a spur leading into a rocky, scenic gulch with caves and overlooks to lowland areas, then return via the other half of the loop. Right away, we could see that those expectations would not be met since there was a sign advertising that the spring trail into the gulch was closed. We headed out west, following the gentle trail in absolute silence, save the chirping of birds and the distant whine of a chainsaw – we had passed many homesites on our way up the road, so despite the remoteness of the area, there are lots of people here. We passed through another gate before reaching a t-intersection where we could go left or right – we went left, uphill, as the forest became more open. We climbed briefly into a slight swale where the trail abruptly left the drainage and proceeded west to crest a low ridge – there was a tall tree here that had fallen over, yet was still held above the ground by some of its more supportive brethren (all sorts of profound metaphors there). We continued north now, down the gradual slope, eventually on a northeast course until we came to a junction – here, we took a short spur trail down a steeper slope to an overlook, where we found our way obstructed by a barbed-wire fence. The terrain beyond is apparently unstable, but that has not deterred folks from making their way around both the east and west ends of the fence – Jane went east and Chris went west, and we met on the other side. We could see the trail contouring steeply down the hillside below us but decided to heed the prominent warnings and proceed no further – the scenery was very pretty here, despite the thick foliage that limited the views from this spot. We made our way back around the fence, then up the trail back to its junction with the loop section – from here, we followed the remaining loop back to the main trail and thence back to the car. As we approached the trailhead, we passed several hikers coming in, and we also noticed that the pines on the south side of the trail were arrayed in prefect rows, obviously planted in that configuration – adjacent to the parking area, we found a large sign we had earlier missed indicating that this is a forest service experiment on the rate of timber growth, and we wonder why a remote area of Maui would be chosen as the site of such an endeavor as opposed to more accessible locations on the mainland. We drove back to the quaint town of Makawao, where we spent the rest of the morning browsing in the chic (expensive) boutiques and elegant (expensive) art galleries – having not had much of a breakfast, we got some “stick donuts” at a family bakery, small glazed donuts neatly stacked on a wooden dowel, that were delicious. This was our last hike together on Maui, and it was nice to end the way we had begun, i.e. with a pretty walk in the upcountry forest. All told, we hiked more than 63 miles and shot some 2,000 photos over the 20 days here, and there aren’t too many areas of the island we did not visit – we’re looking forward to future trips back to Hawaii, not only to Maui, although we expect to continue our adventures in California as well.