We set off quite early at around 7.30am this morning to drive the 1hr30 to the top of Haleakala, the extinct volcano that forms the vast majority of the island of Maui. This felt like a bit of a return to our hiking days round the west coast National Parks in Utah and Arizona as by the time we’d reached the 10,023 foot summit, it was much colder, windier and wetter than it was down at sea level where we were staying. We had to get our coats and fleeces out of our “winter suitcase” again!

After stopping at the visitors center for some advice on what to do, we did a short 0.4 mile walk to a look out point that was next to the visitors center itself, and then set off to do part of the main hike which descends from the summit area down in to the crater. This hike goes on for a long way, so you basically just walk as much as you want and then turn round to walk back up.

At the summit you’re actually up above the clouds, so it was really scenic and very unusual. We did about 2 miles over 1 hour, and then turned round when we reached a point where we were basically in the clouds, could no longer see much around us, and it started to get damp with moisture in the air.

That was probably a wise point to turn around, as it was a tough climb back up, especially with the thin air and high elevation – having also gone from sea-level to ~10,000 in a short space of time which was tough.

We drove 5 minutes further up to the actual peak / summit for a few more pics, including of their observatories which are not accessible to the public but used by NASA and the likes, and then drove the long, slow, winding road back down the volcano to get back home.

On the way back down it was clearer than when we’d driven up in the morning, and so we stopped to do a short 0.5 mile ‘nature trail’ hike around a woodland area near their campsite which was a very different environment, despite being only a short way down the road.

There’s another section of this National Park we hope to visit on Monday, but it’s in a completely different area and is very different to being in the ‘summit district’ like we were today.

Si