Haleakalā National Park

Kīpahulu District

It was a short flight over to Maui, though it took us forever to pack and both of us were questioning how all our stuff had fit in our bags before. Our flight was first thing in the morning so we picked up our second rental Jeep and discussed our plans for the week over breakfast. We decided to take the Road to Hana on that day. The Road to Hana leads not only to the town of Hana but also to the Kīpahulu side of Haleakalā National Park. It is 52 mile stretch from the airport and ranges in speed from 25mph to 5mph. There are 46 one lane bridges and countless hairpin turns. It takes anywhere from 2-3 hours to drive the road. We were very focused on the drive but the scenery was beautiful. The winding pavement lead us through the rainforest, by waterfalls and over rivers and all along the coast the whole time. We camped at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach which is another Hawaiian State Park. There were quite a few tenters and, similar to The Big Island, we all shared a grassy patch. We were up early to watch the sun rise and to pack up and head into the National Park to ensure a good tent site there for the night.

We took over the perfect spot under a big shade tree as another couple was packing up. With that out of the way, we set off to hike the 4 mile round trip Pīpīwai Trail to see the 400' Waimoku Falls. We met a really funny dad and daughter duo on the hike back. Kelly and Tim are from Colorado and their trip to Maui was Tim's college graduation gift to Kelly. They were funny because Tim made friends with absolutely everyone on the trail, while Kelly was more determined to just finish the hike. Tim also roped us into cliff jumping. 

 Sunrise at Wai'anapanapa

 Bamboo forest on the Pīpīwai Trail

 Waimoku Falls

 Another 5 Star camping spot

 My monkey man 

 Drinking coconut milk as the sun came up

Mountain District

To get to the other side of Haleakalā you have to drive all the way up and around, there isn't another road open through the park. We left early to beat the tourist traffic. We stopped in Paia, a small laid back little town, to have breakfast and check out a couple shops. As we were walking along, we ran into the Indian family that we rode with in the back of the old pick up truck on the rough road to Green Sand Beach back on the Big Island. Again, what are the chances? They told us to have breakfast at Charlie's Because the pancakes were the size of the plate, so we did. Charlie's hosts a lot of famous performers and many times unannounced. We found out later that Neil Young had just been there for a surprise set. I would have died to be there for that.  We filled up on food and fuel and headed up to Haleakalā summit. From sea to summit, the volcano is 10,023 feet. It is one of the shortest distances on earth to travel to get to such a high elevation. We went all the way up top to the visitor's center to get a back country permit and to hang out and watch the sun set over the world. We camped at Hosmer Grove which is at 7000' in elevation. It was chilly at night but we have good sleeping bags and insulated air pads. Well, mine is, Brian's air pad continued to have a slow leak throughout this whole trip, even with all the patches, he'd wake up every morning on the ground. Here, Brian got up in the middle of the night to water the grass and accidentally ventured into the wrong tent upon his return. He told me the next morning and I couldn't stop laughing. To his credit, the same exact tent is pitched no more than 10' from ours. Once again, we loaded our packs and headed back up to the summit to start the trail. 

Haleakalā is the largest dormant volcano in the world. The crater was actually formed from erosion and not an explosion so it technically shouldn't be called a crater but still is. On our way, we picked up two hiking hitchhikers. There were doing the same trail as us but they were just in for a day hike. We started 7.4 mile Sliding Sands Trail down into the crater at just after 10:00. It was perfect hiking weather with the cool air but warm sun at our backs. We ran into our hitchhiker friends again and we walked the last couple miles to our campsite, Hōlua, together. They continued on to the Halemau'u Trail, otherwise known as just 'the switchbacks'. At the campsite, we finally got to see some Nēnēs. The Nēnē is a Hawaiian goose and also the state bird. We saw a family of them including two goslings. There were so cute! There were several other tenters there and some riders came in on horseback. We picked our spot, set up the tent, heated up our Campbell's chicken and stars soup for dinner, played some cribbage and bundled up for our night above the clouds. 

I wasn't all that excited about the switchbacks on the way out but it was only a 3.7 mile trail. We tackled it first thing after oatmeal and filling up our Camelbacks and treating the water. It wasn't so bad but I was more than glad to be done with them. We found ourselves in the same predicament as our hitchhiking friends and stuck our thumbs out to hitch a ride back up to the visitor center where the Jeep was parked. The first car pulled over and by the most unlikely and unusual character to pick up hitchhikers. Our driver was Japanese and working at the observatory at the summit of Haleakalā. He spoke broken English but he told us about his studies and and monitoring of Venus and Mars. He also said he had many colleagues in Boston. We were thankful for the ride and for the story to tell. With that, our visit to the park was complete. We couldn't get down the mountain fast enough, back into warmer weather and down to the beach. 

The yellow and white tent on the left.. is not ours. Haha. 

Silversword - These guys live between 3 and 90 years or more. They flower once, sending up a spectacular flowering stalk, and then die soon afterward, scattering drying seeds to the wind. 

 Nēnēs!

 Notice the cloud line