the road to paradise

Maui, Hawaii

Into the unknown...

With the lifts closed, cold weather and snowfall still ahead for another couple months, I started to feel like the time was coming to move on. I had no idea where to go or what to do, so I started to look for signs and let God lead me to my next destination.

One of my roommates at the hostel was from Maui. He knew about my pre-hostel lifestyle in Summit County, and I was asking him out of curiousity if that sort of lifestyle would be possible on Maui. He assured me it was, letting me know it is not uncommon for people to sleep in hammocks or, live out of their cars.

When I looked up a flight from Denver to Maui, it was only $250. He said that was the cheapest he had ever seen a flight; so I took that as my sign and booked a flight the next day.

My experience in Colorado had taught me what I needed to know to prepare myself for Maui. I knew I needed a UPS store to ship my belongings and to receive mail, public storage to store everything, a gym or rec-center for taking showers (although my friend had informed me that there are beach showers all over and the county swimming pools were free and have hot showers) and a place to hang the hammock. By looking on google maps, I had one option with what I needed...Lahaina.

Finding Paradise

From Denver, CO to Maui, HI

San Fransisco, CA

April, 20th 2016 9:28 AM

Departing San Fransisco! - Literally, everything I owned at the time, framed in this single shot.

The Ninja 300 that I rode thirty-six hours to Denver. This bike was most definetely not designed for long highway riding, and my hands felt it by the end.

I shipped most of my belongings in a single box from a UPS store in Alpharetta to a another UPS store in Denver. Once I had found a public storage unit, I would pick up the box from UPS. I rode the entire way with the backpack on my back and the climbing/camping gear stacked on the back-seat. The stack was high enough that it was impossible for me to sit up-right while wearing the backpack. This forced me to ride he entire way lying down on the gas tank.

I orginally planned a nice long ride up through national forest areas, stopping along the way. About 10-minutes in, I immediatelly decided I was taking a straight shot. It was most uncomfortable...to say the least.

Alpharetta, GA - July, 20th 2016 4:00 PM

Departing to Memphis, TN w/ 76% battery
94° 50% humidity

Gadsden, AL - July, 20th 2016 7:39 PM

USB Power adapter failed. Stoppef at McDonalds to power phone and write down directions.
83° 73% humidity

9:00 PM - Departing - 139.8 mi - 1.973 gal @ $5.42 ($2.75/gal.) (70.85mi/gal.)

Kaanapali, HI

April, 20th 2016 4:37 PM

Day 1 - It was a long trip to get here. An hour and a half on bus from Summit County to the Denver Airport (where I stayed the night), an early two hour and forty-five minute flight to San Fransisco followed by a five and a half hour flight to Kahului aiprort on Maui, and finally, two hours total via three buses to go from Kahului to Kaanapali. All to be greated by this amazing scene and even a rainbow!

I had no idea what I was doing or where I would sleep. All I knew was I had to get to Lahaina to get my package at UPS and Storage.

Kaanapali Beach - 6:46 PM & 7:13 PM

First Hawaiian Sunset - I traveled soley with my backpack, containing the bare necessities such as my hammock gear (including rain cover), a change of clothes, laptop and money. After exploring the Kaanapali area, I headed up the beach to find a place to put up the hammock and sleep, catching my first Hawaiian sunset along the way.

Kaanapali Beach is a long stretch of beatiful beach that ends at Black Rock, along which some of the most elaborate and expensive resorts can be found. Nearing night, I was almost at the end of the beach, and looking back could see the long stretch of beach with the resorts on the left and the small island o Lanai on the right.

The Resorts - 7:15 PM

The resorts here are simply amazing, ranging anywhere in price from $700 to well over $1000 a night. They all have incredible courtyards which you can walk through and typically include the resorts pool areas.

I spent some time wondering through the various resort courtyards and was just blown away at the extravagancy. Some of them were even multi-level with pools on the higher levels as well. There is a boardwalk connecting all the resorts along the beach.

- 7:41 PM

After walking the entire beach and not finding a spot to put up for the night, I ended up setting up my hammock with one end clipped to the resort fence and the other to a tree. It was in a sort of "corner" where Black Rock began and the beach ended. I had a nice view of all the resorts lit-up at night along the entire beach.

Exploring Kaanapali - April, 21st 2016 5:48 AM

As per the usual, I would be up before anyone would notice I was there. The beach is void of anyone, quiet and peaceful. I started the day exploring around the Kaanapali Beach resort area before taking the bus into Lahaina to take care of the things I needed to accomplish.

- 6:13 AM

At the Kaanapali Golf Course, immediately behind the resorts along the beach, looking back at the mountains.

A beatiful view, but once I started diving and developed a new appreciation and understanding of the ocean, it was unsettling to think and wonder about the amount of chemicals and fertilizers that are probably dumped on the golf course greens which are extremely close to the shoreline and undoubtedly run off into the ocean.

- 7:55 AM

I had explored around the Kaanapali resort area, and of one particular interest was a vendor that sold jewelry for pearls.

They had live oysters (the vendor runs an oyster farm), and you would pick your oyster. Right there, they would open the oyster to get your pearl, and you could get lucky and end up with a very large pearl, then you would pick out your jewelry casing and necklace that the peral would be placed in (such as turtles, fish etc.)

Lahaina, HI

April, 21st 2016 8:17 AM

Exploring Lahaina - After a quick exploration of Kaanapali, I took the bus to Lahaina to get setup with public storage and explore the area.

The Banyan Tree - 2:09 PM

You can find these incredible Banyan trees in various places on Maui.

There is an entire city block in downtown Lahaina with a massie Banyan tree that takes up nearly the entire block, and makes up the Lahaina Banyan Court Park.

This is entirley one tree. The root system expands underground and rises up to connect to various branches on the tree giving them support. These are incredible trees to see in person.

Lahaina Marina - 2:31 PM

Lahaina has a nice marina with a break wall where you can find many people surfing. Cruise ships will sit in the distance in deeper water and ferry passengers to the marina

Kaanapali, HI

April, 23rd 2016 5:24 AM

Last Night on the Beach - Here you can see the moon just before it disappears for the night and the sun rises, with the cliff face of Black Rock to the right.

This was surprisingly a fairly quiet spot at night when the beach clears despite being right next to the resorts.

Later in my journey in paradise, I will discover how amazing of a night dive Black Rock is!

After three nights in the same spot, I couldn't take it anymore. Each night when I would walk up the beach, I would find beach towels everywhere along with other discarded tourist items and trash. And every night I would get to my spot to find broken beer botles, trash or discarded lawn chairs despite cleaning up each morning.

Time to Move On - April, 23rd 2016 7:34 AM

The last time I would wake up here. The image below shows the spot where I could wake up in the hammock to find turtles lying on the shoreline in front of me, along with those beer bottles.

I couldn't take the lack of respect for the island of the tourists. They come, do what they want and trash their surroundings, then go back home with out a care in the world.

Lahaina, HI

April, 23rd 2016

Where the Sidewalk Ends... - I walked the other direction from Kaanapali, down the beach heading towards Lahaina, looking for a new place to sleep. I ended up walking to the end of the beach and through to the end of Wahikuli Park to where the sidewalk ends...finally finding what seemed to be a good place to put up for the night. It was an area hidden from the highway behind the mainteance building for the park.

There I came across a man with a permanent camp setup, and inquired if he would mind if I put up my hammock. This was my first encounter with Stan, a gentleman I would from this point on, spend almost every morning and evening with for the next 14 months.

I was finally settled in. I had my public storage unit, a place to sleep and nearby beach showers all throughout the park. Everything I needed ended up being all close together and withinshort walking distance, including downtown Laihaina. I had found my paradise!

The Island Life

the simple life at sea level

Maui, HI

April 20th, 2016 - June 9th, 2017
(13 months, 20 days)

High altitude rustic living - Lake Dillon below, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, national forest areas and the small towns of Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Wildernest and Summit Cove.
Photo taken on September 15, 2015

It is an incredible first sight when you arrive through Clear Creek Canyon to be suddenly surrounded by absolutely astonishing scenery.

There is a loop of road surrounding the lake and a free county bus system for easy and affordable transportation to any of the small towns in the area, including the highways leading to the west, south and east ski resorts/towns of Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, respectively.

The towns around Lake Dillon all have their own unique flavor, and everything you need.

Frisco being lightly populated with a nice, small old town feel downtown and many local shops.

Silverthorne has all the usual franchise chains, including typical hotel chains, restaurants and retail stores.

Dillon is a quiet little place along the lake with my favorite restaurant, the Arapahoe Cafe and Pub, and my favrite bar, Lake Dillon Tavern & Pizza.

Maui, HI

April 20th, 2016 - June 9th, 2017
(13 months, 20 days)

Laid back tropical living - It's amazing how everything works out when you decide to truly let go and let God take over. Everything worked out so well, and I was blessed many times over.

Lahaina had everything I needed and incredibly all close together. I could easily walk to the various places I needed such as storage, to get mail, work, food, showers and to sleep.

Technically I should not have been able to get a UPS P.O. Box, as a permanent address is required. However, I had called when I was in Colorado to set up an account over the phone, so that they would hold my package longer than a couple days, and they allowed me to do so as long as I updated my info when I arrived.

I delayed long enough that I was able to receive a piece of mail to use as evidence of an address to get my Hawaii driver's license. Then, ironically, I used my new Hawaii driver's license to update my info for the P.O. Box. I say ironically, because my I.D. had the very UPS mailing address on it and they never even said a word about it.


Photo taken on March 17th, 2017


Photo taken on December 2nd, 2016