The Mysterious Hawaii Road You Absolutely Must Drive At Least Once
By Megan Shute|Published September 23, 2018
×
Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
What the Hawaiian Islands lack in terms of long road trip possibilities, we make up for in phenomenal scenic drives — from coastal highways with stellar views of the Pacific Ocean to roads that traverse between and through the mountainous inland. This particular highway is one of the Aloha State’s most mysterious, and we think everyone needs to drive it at least once. Hawaii Route 200, also known as Saddle Road, traverses Hawaii Island for 52.7 miles from downtown Hilo to its junction with Highway 190 near Waimea. The road is notoriously dangerous, and was featured by Conde Nast Traveler as being one of the “10 Scariest Highways For White-Knuckle Road Trips.” While it has undergone extensive renovations since then, it’s still one of Hawaii’s most mysterious roads.