The Maui Coast - Legacy of the Kings Highway

"The King's Trail" is a legend in stone. The remains of the original are obliterated in sections, the result of the ravages of time, overgrowth, and the heedless incursions of development, so the trail that is left has the truncated aspect of ancient statuary. Photographing its remnants, as Daniel Sullivan has done, preserves the continuity even in its present fragmented form, and for those of us who love the island of Maui, this book is an attempt to provide a protective ring -- a broken ring -- around a place we love. -W.S. Merwin, United States Poet Laureate In August of 2013, photographer Daniel Sullivan set out to find what was left of the Kings Highway. Carrying his camera equipment, a small solar panel and lots of water, he hiked, climbed and crawled along the coast, reaching the depths of the ancient kings highway. What he has photographed is a side of Maui and Hawaii never before seen-ancient stone temples crumbling in the jungle, hidden waterfalls, and a disappearing road. Everybody loves the island of Maui. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and the sheer fanaticism about the island is well documented. Yet, for all the magazine articles and television shows about it, there has never been a fine art photography book or exhibit, which captures the essence of the beauty, history and landscape of the island. The Maui Coast: Legacy of the Kings Highway aims to fill this and to inspire the viewer to not only appreciate the beauty of Maui, but also work toward preserving a piece of history. Not only has there never been a book written about the ancient kings highway, no one living actually knew the location of the road which lies hidden in jungles, across lava fields and along the coast. The only map in existence on the road is in a 19th century survey made by the Kingdom of Hawaii.