I’m behind on blogging as usual (I’m actually back in Texas now), but I need to do a catch-up entry on my 44th national park, Haleakalā on Maui.
My trip to Maui was quick, with a flight over from Hilo on Saturday morning July 25 and a return to Hilo on the evening of July 26. But I crammed a lot of sightseeing into a short window!
First I drove my rental car up to the summit of Haleakalā, the now-dormant volcano that formed the eastern portion of Maui. The summit is over 10,000 feet above sea level, so that’s a steep drive and an adjustment in oxygen level! As with Mauna Kea, you tend to start out wreathed in clouds and then emerge above them before you reach the top. And like Mauna Kea, Haleakalā is home to astronomical observatories because of its amazing clear view of the sky.
I was amazed that I could actually see the tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa from the top of Haleakalā 80 miles away (though it was clearer in person than in this picture below).
The summit is also home to a unique plant, found nowhere else on earth, called an ‘Ahinahina. It has spiky leaves that look like they were lightly spray-painted with silver. It can live for up to 50 years, and then it flowers once for a couple of months and dies. Both the maturing plants and the flowering ones were so cool-looking!
Just below the summit is a crater. Geologically speaking, it’s not a caldera because it was formed by wind erosion rather than an eruption. But it’s beautiful with reds and greens because of the minerals (especially iron) in the soil and the growth of vegetation.
The pictures can’t fully do it justice, but I took a short hike to get a better view. (And I was getting sunburned, so I bought myself a solar hoodie as a practical souvenir!)
After the summit, I drove back down and took the famous Road to Hana along the east coast of Maui. It’s a beautiful road with views of ocean cliffs and waterfalls, but it’s incredibly narrow and winding, and I confess that driving it in the rain with evening coming on was a bit stressful, especially when there was livestock in the road.
But I made it safely to my overnight hostel in Hana. And the next morning, I got some beautiful weather to enjoy the area! I went for an early morning swim (well, wade) in the black sand beach of Hana Bay.
I continued on south along the road (the Road FROM Hana?) to the Kīpahulu District of the national park down on the southern coast of Maui. Margaret gave me all the tours for Hawaii in the Guide Along app, so I got to listen to plenty of local lore and sightseeing pointers along the way. That road has some absolutely spectacular waterfalls.
(Yeah, I definitely got sunburned.)
The Kīpahulu District provided a cheerful greeting…
Instead of taking the strenuous four-mile trail up to the top of the falls, I chose to hike down to Kūloa Point along the Pools of ‘Ohe’o to the place where the river enters the sea.
The used to allow visitors to swim/ wade in the pools, but too many people died, so now you can just go down and look at them. And they are absolutely amazing to look at.
You might notice the drastic differences in cloud cover between my pictures. East Maui is one of the rainiest places on earth, but the weather is constantly changing. My hike was 0.8 miles, and in that time it went from raining to cloudlessly sunny to raining again. The two pictures below were taken six minutes and a few hundred yards apart.
On the way back to the airport, I stopped off at an arboretum known as the Garden of Eden.
Their biggest claim to fame is an overlook of Keopuka Rock.
Before I wrap up, I should mention that back on the Big Island, we got to see Eruption 51 of Kilaeua on July 15. It was an awe-inspiring sight, both the lava fountain that we saw during the day and the afterglow of hot lava that was visible after night fell.
And finally, I want to acknowledge and send prayers to Hawaii for all who suffered damage in Hurricane Lala this weekend. I just learned that Punalu’u Bakery, where we stopped for lunch on the way from Kona to Hilo, was devastated by three feet of mud and floodwater.
Hawaii showed us such an amazing time, with far more memories and photos that I can fit in this blog. Those of us in Houston know all too well how devastating a storm like that can be. I’m praying for a speedy recovery and physical and mental healing for all who went through this.
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