The Road the Highway Left Behind

There's a certain pleasure in finding a road that no longer has to be in a hurry.

On Hawai'i's Big Island, the modern highway carries traffic between towns, getting people where they need to go efficiently. And that's a good thing. People have appointments to keep and groceries to get home before the ice cream melts.

But running alongside portions of that highway is an older road with a different rhythm.

It curves past houses and small communities, crosses narrow bridges and follows the contours of a landscape that engineers once had little choice but to respect.

This is the old Māmalahoa Road.

The new highway takes you across Hawai'i. The old road takes you through it.

A road shaped by the island

Long before automobiles appeared in Hawai'i, trails connected communities around the island. Over generations, parts of that network became horse trails, wagon roads and eventually paved highways.

Along the Hāmākua Coast, streams descending from Mauna Kea have carved deep gulches on their way to the Pacific. Connecting settlements meant finding ways across those valleys, sometimes descending into them, sometimes bridging them, and frequently following a less direct line than modern engineers might prefer.

As traffic increased, new highway sections bypassed many of the old bends and crossings. The older road continued serving the homes and communities along its route.

What became less convenient for through traffic became considerably more interesting for a cyclist.

From Waimea to the Hāmākua Coast

One of the pleasures of cycling the old Māmalahoa Road is that it doesn't offer just one version of Hawai'i.

Leaving the higher country around Waimea, the landscape opens into pastureland, rolling hills and broad views. As the road heads toward Honoka'a, the countryside gradually changes.

Farther along the Hāmākua Coast, vegetation grows denser. Roads dip toward stream crossings, curve around gulches and emerge into small settlements. The Pacific is sometimes visible beyond the greenery, sometimes hidden until the road offers a sudden opening.

Near Onomea Bay, one particularly lovely surviving section winds beneath tropical trees, crosses small bridges and reveals glimpses of the coastline.

And there's another reason we look forward to this stretch: What's Shakin', a roadside smoothie stand that's become a regular stop on our rides. Fresh fruit smoothies, a chance to rest the legs and perhaps a little discussion about which flavor deserves a second helping. The old road may have a long history, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying something made five minutes ago.

On our Big Island cycling journey, we seek out the publicly accessible stretches of the old road that still connect one place to another. Rather than simply ducking off the highway for a scenic photograph, we follow these older routes as part of the journey.

They aren't museum pieces or recreational paths. They're real roads, still used by the people who live along them.

What the plantations left behind

For generations, sugar cane covered the Hāmākua hillsides, plantation communities grew around mills, and railways carried sugar and other goods toward Hilo.

When the sugar industry closed, the landscape changed. Some former cane fields were planted with eucalyptus. Others were left fallow, gradually becoming grassland with patches of shrubs.

But the old road still passes through places shaped by that history. Houses, churches and small businesses stand alongside reminders of an earlier economy.

Someone is tending a garden. A pickup is heading home. A roadside seller has fresh-caught ahi for sale. These aren't attractions arranged for visitors. They're the ordinary details of a place where people live.

That's what makes the old road different from a scenic overlook. You're traveling through Hawai'i's everyday life, not simply looking at it from a convenient stopping point.

Built for a different pace

The bridges are narrower, the curves tighter and the roadside closer. Along the Hāmākua Coast, historic bridges cross streams and gulches that once made travel between communities such a challenge.

Some are impressive pieces of engineering. Others are modest enough that a driver might cross without a second thought.

On a bicycle, you have time to notice them.

These narrow roads are still used by local residents, and sharing them thoughtfully matters. Hawai'i County has increasingly restricted commercial cycling tours on some sections, reflecting the challenges of accommodating cyclists and vehicles on roads built for another era. A small group riding considerately is a very different proposition from a large group descending at speed, but regulations don't always make that distinction.

After all, the old road was designed to help people get somewhere. It still does, and everyone deserves room to use it.

The pleasure of taking the longer way

It's easy to think of progress in terms of getting somewhere faster. Straighter roads, wider bridges, shorter travel times. All useful things, particularly when you're the person who needs to get to work on Monday morning.

But something gets lost when every journey is reduced to the distance between its endpoints.

The old Māmalahoa Road carries you through the Hawai'i of earlier generations and the Hawai'i of today, often within the space of a few miles.

A former plantation community, a stand of eucalyptus, a narrow bridge, a view of the ocean between the trees. None requires a grand introduction. Together, they give the journey its character.

That's one of the reasons we enjoy including these stretches on our Big Island of Hawai'i cycling tour. The places between the famous sights are often every bit as memorable as the sights themselves.

The modern highway will get you to the other end more quickly.

The old Māmalahoa Road reminds you that getting there is only part of the fun.