HaleAHHHHkala National Park

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July! I was stuck working. :( The good part was that I earned time and a half--yay!

Sunday, though, was a very eventful day. We woke up really early--at 3:30 AM--so that we could view the sunrise from the top of Haleakala (pronounced Hah-lee-ah-ka-la). It took us about an hour and a half to drive from our house in Haiku to the summit area. Here is a description of the road from the town of Kula, about 20 minutes' drive from Haiku, to the summit:

"The Crater Road (Route 378) begins in the upcountry farming and flower-growing district of Kula at an elevation of 3,200 feet. It reaches the summit in 22 miles after 32 switchbacks, climbing an average grade of 6%. As you climb, notice that the temperature is dropping -- about 3 degrees F for each 1,000 feet in altitude."

It was very dark on the drive up and there was a guy tailing us most of the way. No fun!

We didn't view the sunrise from all the way up at the summit (10,023 ft) because we weren't sure we would make it in time, but we did view it from 9,740 feet up and it was amazing! Oh, and It was freezing as well! Temperatures at the peak get as low as 30 degrees fahrenheit. I was super bundled up and still shivering!

Afterwards, we hung out at the Visitor Center and talked to a couple of park rangers about hiking around. Since we only wanted to hike around for about 3 hours or so, they recommended taking the Keonehe'ehe'e, or Sliding Sands, Trail. The whole way was downhill, so my calves were really hurting and I had to turn around every so often to stretch them. What made it a difficult hike was that is was like walking on sand (hence the trail name), which requires a lot more effort. On the trail we saw several Chukar birds and lots of silverswords, a threatened plant species that can only be found in Haleakala National Park. Unfortunately, we did not see any nene, also known as the Hawaiian goose, a threatened bird species that can only be found on the Hawaiian Islands.

We stopped and took so many pictures, so it took us about an hour and half or so to get to the Ka Lu'u o ka 'O'o Cinder Cone. According to Wikipedia, a cinder cone is "a steep conical hill of volcanic fragments that accumulate around and downwind from a volcanic vent." The cinder cone was really cool. It was a big, huge colorful hole and it was very windy.

** For pictures, go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131729&l=93f49&id=723885367 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132226&l=ce51e&id=723885367. I will post up more soon.

The way back took so long because it was all uphill on sand-like terrain. I was so tired when we finally got up to the top! On the way driving back down the mountain, we stopped at a couple of lookout points and another visitor center, then we headed back home. We were filthy from all the dirt and so tired since we woke up so early. I got motion sickness on the drive back and I was so tired that I kept falling asleep. I passed out once we got home for over an hour!

After my nap, we decided not to go surfing after all since we were so physically exhausted, so we went into town (Kahului) to watch Wall-E instead. It was such a cute movie! Such a bleak future though. I recommend that everyone see it because it was awesome!