Day 62: Maui - Haleakalā National Park

Sunrise at Haleakalā Volcano

We had to get up even a bit earlier than 03:00, as it was the plan to leave at 03:00. So 02:30 we got ringed out of bed by our iPhone. The half hour was then spent with really waking up, already putting some sunscreen on and then we were on our way. It was a nearly 2 hour drive in the end in the darkness.

At the Park gate we just had to tell our name and were then crossed off the “Master list” which had all people for this morning on it. We couldn’t get the exact figures, but the give out around 100 vehicle permits per day for the sunrise. This means that you can only enter the park before 07:00 am if you got one of the permits.

The summit parking space was already full, so we parked a bit further down at the Visitor center and then did a 0.3 mile hike up a small hill right next to it. This turned out to be a great choice as there were next to no people and no crowding at all.

Then the wait started, 05:09 was the first picture I took up there.

It was really cold on the top, which wasn’t too surprising as we were at 3055m. The lowest the car showed was 4 degrees, so we stood there with our puffy jacket and rain jacket on top and waited for nature to do it’s magic.

In the end it was nearly an hour wait, during which we could exactly see how everything was getting more and more brightened up. The end result was just amazing!

Hiking Haleakalā

After the sunrise we had to warm up a bit, the sun wasn’t powerful enough that early on, so we used the heating function of the car :) After the blood was unfrozen, we started the descent until we got to the Halemau’u trail head. From there we planned to do a ~12 km out and back hike which led to a cabin in the crater.

The main drawback of this hike was that we first did the descent into the crater and then had to hike back out. So we had to take out a “Mortgage” which we had to pay back in the end ;-)

Nature was beautiful, it was a mixture between a lot of green and the black volcano stones. At first it was a easy path just down the hill, but then we had to do a lot of switch backs, which were directly carved in the cliff side.

It was never too steep, but still a bit technical as the trail was always covered in rocks. We already got some great views of the crater, which was greener than we had anticipated.

As we reached the crater, it became more and more foggy. This led to an amazing atmosphere, the fog, the lonely trees and the volcano rocks.

Then we reached the cabin, there is also a campsite pretty close to it. For the campsite it’s required to get a permit and the cabin can actually be rented and provides 12 bunk beds.

Thanks to the early visit of the park, it was only 08:40 as we reached the cabin. So we had a breakfast, which consisted of granola bars and chilled a bit with the Nēnē (Hawaiian Goose)

Now it was time to pay back the Mortgage, so we started the hike back and all the way up. Not too much to report from this part of the trip, most of the trail was now covered in fog, which wasn’t a bad thing as this kept the heat down :)

Snorkeling

We started with the descent from the Haleakalā and planned to visit first Kihei, which was more or less on the way back to Lahaina. But soon after we started the drive down, it started to rain and never really stopped. In Kihei we first did a short visit to the Safeway to get us some lunch and then checked out to the beaches. But with the rain it wasn’t too appealing and we decided to go back into direction Lahaina as the weather looked better there.

Our first stop was Olowalu, which was a bit hidden and therefore not many people were there. We did a quick swim but couldn’t spot too much. So decided to move on and go to the Launiupoko Beach Park. This was a great choice, a lot of nice shady areas. I spent most of the time there sleeping, as the missing sleep from the night got the better of me.

Then we went back to the Guesthouse, did another stop at Safeway to grab some Tomatoes and Mozzarella to make us a Caprese salad for dinner. Nicole added some vegetarian sausages as well.

For Dinner we joined the Hosts and two other guests on the outside dinning area, which was a fun evening. We also learned that I could do a introductory dive, because Nicole is certified. Something we try to get more information about.

But for tomorrow we already have our plan, it’s surf time! :)

Pictures

Activities

Hike: Halemau’u Out and Back