This isn't Jen's video. It's a video of HWY 31 I found on YouTube. Link.
My friend Jennifer Gardner recently took a trip to Hawaii and ended up driving on the backside road on Maui, Highway 31 (Pi'ilani Highway). It's a treacherous, one lane road with few and insufficient guardrails between the road and the steep cliff below.
Overhearing us, a couple hiking near us informed us that the back road was much faster — and that the locals always take it. "It's totally paved now," they assured us. That's all we needed. So as the sun sank into the ocean, we headed down the backside of Hana, defying our rental car agreement and all the naysayers.
For the first few minutes, we were mesmerized by the exotic terrain and otherworldly views. Then, suddenly, we found ourselves on a narrow dirt and lava rock road, literally hugging a cliff along a sheer drop — with no guardrails. We went silent with the knowledge that heading down this road in the dark was probably not a good idea. The bad news was that there was no place to turn around.
Every hairpin curve was blind, but it didn't matter, because I'm not sure how an oncoming car could have passed us anyway. Signs reading "Danger, Falling Rocks" reminded us that there were boulders just inches away, waiting to crush us, and crosses memorializing those who had plummeted to their deaths dotted the highway. "And those are just the ones that are marked," muttered Arianne from the back seat.
