Feature Article
High on Maui 's Upcountry
Cool is a matter of altitude as much as attitude in this enclave of cowboys, artists, country inns and flower farms.
By Rita Ariyoshi
All roads lead upward to the House of the Sun. As if it were an enormous powerful temple and we its mesmerized devotees, we beam up in our rental cars from the sun-besotted shores of Maui to the lei of clouds that lies upon the rolling green flanks of Haleakala, the largest dormant volcano on Earth. Midway up the 10,023-foot mountain, in a fertile belt known as Upcountry, the roads wind among vast ranches, farms and tiny towns. Bursting from the rich volcanic soil come surprises of roses, cabbages as big as minor comets, onions as sweet as apples and strawberries so juicy they drizzle down your arm at the first bite.
Until the 1970s, Upcountry's main town, Makawao, was a rough cowboy town, affectionately called Macho-wow. It had a gun and ammo depot, feed stores and hitching posts along the main street, Baldwin Avenue. On Saturday night, the paniolo, the Hawaiian cowboys, came to town to dance, play the ukulele and sing the praises of the land on which they lived.
Now? It's like—Maka-wowie. The old wooden storefronts have morphed into art galleries, boutiques, coffee houses and restaurants, most of them very good.
Hipster hub is the Dragon's Den. While sipping an immune support tea, I poked around among pendulums, crystals and jars of kava-kava, malic acid, unicorn root and herbal remedies. Personally, my prescription gets filled across the street at the old Komoda Bakery where I savor the world's lightest, creamiest long johns. Right next door is Altitude, a stylish boutique owned by a French woman. Kitada's Kau Kau Korner serves great steaming bowls of saimin, Hawaii's ubiquitous noodle soup, and you can get your cappuccino fix a few doors away at Duncan's.
Makawao may be this minute's Maui hot spot, yet fields and forests edge right up to its streets. This contrast is its draw. An international community of artists has settled among the hollyhocks and pine trees, the eucalyptus and redwoods. They gather informally on Friday mornings at Grandma's Coffee House in Keokea over pastries of staggering size and cups of local grinds. The Hui Noeau Visual Arts Center offers a full calendar of classes, lectures and workshops in a gracious old estate on the edge of Makawao.
It's not only artists who are drawn to Upcountry's cool air and natural beauty. Seeking both, I booked myself into the Olinda Country Cottages and Inn at the end of Olinda Road, as far up as you can go from Makawao before the trees close in. Tucked away in the woods was a mansion with the timeworn grace of the Riviera, surrounded by a Beatrix Potter garden rife with foxglove, Nile lilies and saucer-sized daisies. I knew immediately it was the kind of place where the tea would be organic, the sugar brown, the apple juice unfiltered and there'd be a Buddha on the shelf.
A note on the door told me to let myself in. My room was festooned in chintz and determinedly old furniture. I went for a long walk in the woods, along the Waihou Trail, my footsteps cushioned by pine needles, blissfully alone.
For dinner, I drove back down to Makawao, enjoying the way the late light slashed through the cough-drop-smelling eucalyptus. The trees came in gangs and muscled their roots right onto the edge of the road. They could intimidate a non-tree lover.
I chose Polli's Mexican restaurant. The place was lit up like a Virgin shrine with Christmas lights. Inside, margaritas in candy flavors were flowing. The place was packed and loud. They could seat me only at the bar. My companions included a grey-haired man with a headband and beads, some burly construction workers, and a few tourists. The woman next to me said, “I don't know why I'm here. I spent the day at a waterfall. There wasn't another sound.” I thought of my room in the Olinda forest.
The following day I signed up for a jeep ride around Ulupalakua Ranch. In a bright red Wrangler, we explored rolling hills, deep ravines, volcanic cinder cones and stands of koa trees, breezing past cows, elk, deer, francolin and partridge. The Wrangler bounced across 'a'a lava flows where scarlet ohia lehua bloomed and the rocks were gala with bright orange lichen and feathery moss. We stopped among the clouds for a picnic beside a fern-draped lava cave. Mist ghosted across the pasture so lightly it was barely wet.
Ulupalakua is one of Hawaii 's historic ranches. Hawaiian cowboys were riding and roping long before the American West was won, and the paniolo tradition is still strong. Rodeos happen regularly in Makawao, but the biggest of them all erupts on the Fourth of July. The opening parade winds up Baldwin Avenue with horses and riders garlanded in magnificent leis.
What really wows the crowd, however, is the action in the arena as cowboys pray, stretch and twist before climbing into the chutes to ride a wild bronco or a bull weighing almost 2,000 malevolent pounds. On rodeo days, Makawao is once again Macho-wow.
The jeep tour ended at the ranch's Tedeschi Winery, which offers tours and a tasting room. Their champagne, Maui Blanc de Noirs, has been served at U.S. presidential inaugurations.
Happily reassured, I drove Upcoun-try's back roads. Blazes of flowers kept interrupting the bovine landscape, for stitched among the ranches is a colorful quilt of flower farms.
The prized crop is the protea, whose colossal blooms look like flowers of Mars. The species, a native of South Africa, was pioneered as a Maui crop by the University of Hawaii Agricultural Substation in Kula, which publishes a self-guided walking tour of their interesting acreage. Protea encounters can also happen at Sunrise Protea Farm, which has a snack stand and picnic tables.
Two exceptional gardens grow in Upcountry. At Kula Botanical Garden, walkways meander among great trees and exuberant tropical flowers. There's a koi pond with lilies and a wall of black-eyed susans. Enchanting Floral Garden is more compact, but crams in 1,500 species of flowers from around the world, all artistically grouped by color and arranged among trellises, gazebos and paths.
Looming over this lush green belt is the cold summit of Haleakala, up above the tree line. People drive there, as if on pilgrimage, to see the sunrise. With hundreds of others, I shivered at the lip of the crater and saw the sun sitting below the clouds, all soft and pink and radiant. It was like watching time being born and a new day tumbling from the hand of the Creator. It was the most soft and benign of mornings.
The pilgrims checked their watches. Most were bikers, signed up for the bicycle cruise from the summit to the sea. I preferred to watch them from the picture window at the Kula Lodge while dining on Belgian waffles and Maui strawberries.
Aside from the dining pleasures of this fertile farm belt, one of the amusing pastimes is checking out the town bulletin boards. These are actual notices from Haiku, Paia and Makawao: “Perfect for Mother's Day, gift certificate for Qi and Five Element Balancing.” “Learn to create a small flower arrangement then commune with the flowers.” There were phone numbers for hydrotherapy, brain longevity exercises, swing dance, and a German cleaning lady who “cleans with aloha.”
Some people seek enlightenment along more traditional lines. The 1894 Holy Ghost Octagonal Church in Kula has an ornate altar and stations of the cross that are among the finest examples of nineteenth-century ecclesiastical art. The church is on the national and state registers of historical places.
Every June, parishioners host a free luau for all comers. It's their way of saying thanks for their many blessings—most of all, for living Upcountry amidst peace and plenty.
Rita Ariyoshi is the author of Maui On My Mind, and the winner of many fiction and travel journalism awards. She lives on Oahu.
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