"Only female mosquitoes bite!" wisdom from Audrey, my 6 year old ("Almost 7!" she would say) niece. True, I did look it up. Females need the meal of blood for the production of eggs. Males feed off of nectar.Our hike today at Swinging Bridges was populated with male mosquitoes, buzzing our ears and landing, yet the 3 of us ended our hike without a bite! Where were the females? They must have been off laying eggs, as there were plenty of blood rich hikers on the trail before us, also enjoying the school holiday.
Two cable swinging bridges, miles of waterways, tunnels bore through mountains, dams and regulating stations were built in the early sugar plantation days to bring water from river valleys to the crops in the lowlands. Maui's back country is zigzagged with these waterways, evidence of the Chinese labor.Ours was the journey; journey over bridges, rock hopping river crossings, though bamboo forests and fragrant tropical vegetation; not the destination
of the waterfall and pool at the end of the trail. We never made that last waterfall. We were going at 5 year old James pace and as far as his little soccer legs could take him. The end of our trail was a crystal clear pool, great for a refreshing, cold dip, even better for skipping and throwing rocks.
We did have our own series of miniature waterfalls and the presence of a fairy tale like Banyan Tree. We could only imagine the gnomes and trolls who live in the root village and come out to dance at night.
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