Past Hana the traffic thins out, the road gets patchier, and you finally reach the part of Maui that tourists skip because they have run out of daylight. Kīpahulu is the quiet far corner of Haleakalā National Park, a detached coastal unit where the crater's rain runs down in a series of terraced pools and falls to the sea at ʻOheʻo Gulch. The old guidebook name, the Seven Sacred Pools, was a hotel marketing invention rather than anything Hawaiian, and the rangers will happily tell you so. There are more than seven, and what you can swim in changes with the weather and the rules.
The ride in is the reward and also the warning. From Hana, the road continues along the coast for about twelve kilometres, through rainforest tunnels, past waterfalls that come and go, and over narrow bridges that make you slow down whether you want to or not. The pavement is rougher here, with frost-heaved patches and the occasional rockfall. The humidity is thick, the light is green, and the smell of wet ginger and mango hangs over everything. Take it gently, because the uphill side is blind and oncoming cars are often hired.
At the end, the National Park maintains a visitor area with a fee at the gate, toilets, and a trailhead. The Pīpīwai trail climbs through a bamboo forest, one of the more eerie places you can walk in the islands, to Waimoku Falls, a long, thin ribbon of water dropping a hundred metres or so. Carry rain gear and wear boots rather than motorcycle shoes if you plan to go all the way. Flash floods in the stream are real, and pools are closed when the water is high.
A little back along the coast is the Palapala Hoʻomau Church, a whitewashed chapel where Charles Lindbergh is buried. He spent his last years here in a modest house after a life of aviation and controversy, and the grave is beside the church above the sea. It is easy to miss and worth the detour.
Hana has the nearest pump, and its hours are short, so fill up in Pāʻia or Kahului before you commit. Turn around with a full tank and enough light, and treat this as the end of the world, which on this island it more or less is.