Haleakala – On Top of Maui

While most of my buddies here in Hawaii are usually too captivated by the surf, I of course am drawn upwards, to the soaring heights of the volcanoes that made this island chain. It’s pretty cool that you can be surfing in the morning and the afternoon go for a hike at 10,000′ (or 13,700′ if you live on the Big Island!).

To climb Haleakala, Maui’s highest point, from sea level requires several days, many miles, and well, 10,023 feet of elevation gain. Fortunately for those who just want to check out the other-wordly landscape of the crater, there is a road to the top. A really, really windy road that takes an hour to drive the 30 miles, but a road none-the-less.

We dragged ourselves away from the sun and sand for the afternoon to make the long drive up. We drove through some thick clouds and rain, then into the brilliant blue sky and sunshine of the summit. I don’t have many words to describe the scene up there, it’s completely breathtaking, and looks like the landscape of another planet with all the lava flows and cinder cones. In the distant you can see the other islands, including the 13,000′ peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

Someday we’ll have to come back and make a “proper” ascent, but for the time being we were content to just be surrounded by the beauty of this incredible place.