After a long and playful winter in the mountains, summer’s imminent arrival spurred on Alex & Henry’s need to trade wool for linen and skis for boards. The coasts, valleys, and forested peaks of the Hawaiian tropics presented itself as the ideal place to break out our summer best and kick off the season of the sun.

With both of us tending to idealize the style of the past, our heads were immediately filled with images of the Pacific of old – legends of Polynesia like Duke Kahanamoku and famed Norwegian seaman, Thor Heyerdahl, served as inspiration for exploration and adventure in the tropics. While the promise of sand, surf, and history alone was certainly enough to pique our interest, the encouragement and insider intel of Maui locals and Friends in the Field, Ceci Buckingham, Dairinn Bowers, and Pete Cabrinha, sealed the deal… we were off to the Pacific.

Naturally, our first course of action was to secure a means of transportation – luckily, Maui local and handyman, Todd, had an ‘88 Volkswagen Westfalia (“Westy”) with our names on it. Despite the Westy’s drive belt shredding and coolant line bursting, she was an otherwise convenient and comfortable home throughout our travels. This vintage icon served as basecamp for the week, affording us the freedom to chart a breathtaking course across Maui from West to East.

Beginning our tour at Ukumehame Beach, a picturesque stretch of white sand with an inviting ocean swell, we linked up with Ceci and Dairinn, savants of the surf and Friends in the Field. Their skill and knowledge of (truly all) watersports was remarkable – effortlessly dancing down wave after wave, much as if they were lapping a playful line in the alpine. We benefitted from their combined decades of local knowledge and picked up some tips on mountainous locales best for testing out our summer trekking kits… Iao Valley was next.