More ATV pictures
by brian @ 19:16:37 - [perma-link]I'm back at the hotel getting some rest after the ATV trip. I got up
this morning at about 6am (though it felt like 9, which is cool) and
met up with the group around 7 to go to the ATV place. Its somewhere
up on Crater road, on the way to (uh... how do you spell it?) Haleakala
(is that right?). We arrived around 8, and after a fairly extensive explanation of how to
operate the ATVs (which could reduce to "this is the throttle, this is
the brake, let's go" if it weren't for lawyers) we took a lap around
the practice course (last chance to hop in the Hummer if 8mph scares
you) then headed out into the wild. We rode along a fairly rough trail. I was expecting it to be a
tourist-friendly (ie. lame) dirt road, but it turned out to be a really
good ride. There were plenty of rocks and bumps and hills to have fun.
There were a couple of good-sized puddles. The first puddle (in the
picture) had a bump right in front of it, so I went full throttle and
launched into the water with a big splash. The scenery was beautiful. The trail is on a 33,000 acre ranch. We
saw a cowboy on his horse watching the cattle (or maybe drinking Jack
Daniels, according to the guide). Our trip was about 7 miles in, 14
round trip. Lunch at the turnaround point. After lunch we hiked a short distance to the edge of the rain forest
area. There were several types of ferns, and lots of really, really
old trees. The guide explained that the water supply for Maui is all
natural and flows from these rain forests. And due to various things
the rain forest is shrinking and is getting to the point where it won't
supply enough water. There are a lot of efforts to re-establish the
forest. Lots of interesting info... The eucalyptus trees here were brought in for reforestation, but they
kill the native trees. People are now trying to remove the eucalyptus
and replant native trees to get things back to how they should be. I'm not usually one to get into all that hippie crap ;), but it makes
more sense when you can actually see that we (Americans) have totally
screwed up a beautiful, thriving ecosystem in order to make lots of
fancy resorts. 5 Star hotels aren't really the island way of life. | 
