A long time ago, the mother of Maui would complain that the sun crossed the sky too quickly; she did not have enough time to dry bark for making cloth. The god Maui decided to help his mother, so climbed Haleakala, and hid in waiting for the sun to rise. As the sun's legs began coming over the crater wall, Maui grabbed them, one by one and tied them to a Wili Wili tree. Soon the sun could not move.
The sun begged Maui to release him; but Maui would not relent. He made the sun promise to cross the sky more slowly thereafter, so his mother could dry her bark. To this day, when the sun sets, you can still see the ropes that Maui left tied to the sun, as a reminder of his promise, trailing across the sky.
On Thursday (Thanksgiving, '95), we landed on Maui, after a short flight from Honolulu. We were me, visiting from Minnesota, my mother and her boyfriend, Jim, both of whom reside in Honolulu. On Maui, we rented a car, bought food for the trip and drove directly to the park. Within a half-hour, we were at the park entrance at 6500'. Another mile, and we're at the Visitor Center, where we pick up the permit and drop off the itinerary. Although not really necessary in this park, I bought a topo map showing the entire crater.
By this time, we were above the clouds, the tops of which we broke through at the park entrance. High above, there were thinner patches of clouds across the sky, but the sun could still poke through in spots. I took the time to look around a little more; there were still grasses and shrubs; even the occasional tree. Several miles away, I could see the peak of West Maui poking through the clouds. The isthmus between, and all the shoreline had disappeared from view. Above, the peak was still hidden from view, but by terrain - thinning grasses and shrubs, and lots of rock.
We piled back in the car to drive the remaining miles to the summit. After innumerable switchbacks, we arrived at the parking area. A few quick steps above was the wind shelter - quite necessary, even after donning polartec pullovers over t-shirts. The view from the 10,023' summit is nothing if not fantastic! In a southern direction, the massive peaks of the Big Island (Mauna Loa & Mauna Kea); on the other side, West Maui, with occasional glimpses of Molokai & Lanai beyond; to the East, the view is right into the crater.
At the crater's West end, above which we were perched, the crater floor is at about 7400', or 2600' below. Within the crater, something like 8 cinder cones are dwarfed by the walls of the main crater. To the North, a gap in the wall, where lava flowed - creating the island below. I would later find that the cinder cones are actually quite massive, towering over what passes for a ski hill here in Minnesota.
After a few minutes of looking around, we left the summit for the visitor center, a couple hundred feet lower, but also perched at the crater rim. The center contains different informative exhibits regarding volcanism, the myths/legends of Haleakala (see above), and the geology/biology of the crater. If you ever go, lookout, its here that the tour busses drop off their passengers for awhile. Despite the crowds, it is worth a visit.
We only had a short visit in the Center, due to closing time. This was fine, because I was getting quite hungry for our Thanksgiving feast. We drove down to the Hosmer Grove campground, back at 6400', where we would car-camp for the night before hiking into the crater in the morning. It was also a nice way to begin acclimating to a slightly higher altitude than any of us are used to. Dinner consisted of Chicken with Pesto sauce, salad, White wine, and various grilled veggies. Mmmm.
The day began with a fine breakfast of Oatmeal, fruit and coffee. We broke camp pretty quickly, in order to get to the trailhead & start the day. The weather: gorgeous! Blue skies with occasional thin, high clouds. Temps in the 50's when we got up.
Mom and Jim dropped me off at the trailhead; officially 9778 feet. 1/4 mile from the summit by road; 150' in elevation. The Sliding Sands trailhead is right at the visitor center. I waited with our gear while the other two returned to the Halemau'u to park the car. The logic was that a couple would have better luck hitch-hiking than a group with a scruffy punk (me). This, of course, afforded me the luxury of laying around watching the tour busses dump 50 Japanese at a time into the visitor center. Several even wanted photos with me. I later learned that the polite reaction is to have a photo taken with them using your own camera. This activity will apparently go on forever, or until one runs out of film.
When Mom & Jim arrived, we strapped in and began our walk. From the trailhead, there is no view into the crater. You have to walk 100 yards or so around a ridge before the inside of the crater is visible. At this point, you get the first glimpse into the crater. The floor is not visible, but the jagged ridges extend to the far end of the crater, roughly 10 miles away. Apparently Manhattan Island will fit easily (we did not try this). The trail is sand (Sliding Sands Trail). On either side of the trail, the sandy rock is mostly black, or at least dark brown. The trail sand is fine and lighter brown. After just a few minutes walking, boots are pretty well coated with the stuff.
The walk is a gentle, continuous slope. We were lucky enough to be going down. The trail follows the curve of the crater, providing an awesome vantage point to observe the cinder cones littering the crater floor.
One major league bummer is that my first day's roll of film didn't get loaded properly. So I have no photos from day one until we arrive at the campsite at Paliku. The following photo is from the next day, but does represent what we walked by on both days.
One of the few 'doctored' photos on my site, I sharpened the image a bit. I did not intentionally scan in
black and white, it seems the scene was close enough that my software defaulted to black and white. I think
its a nice representation of how stark parts of the crater are. Of course, some don't even have the dead
plants that are in this photo...
Once reaching the base of Sliding Sands trail, you're standing in the crater, on the flat, sandy floor. The rim dwarfs you, being up to a half mile above you. It is dry. For much of the walk, there is no vegetation what-so-ever. Gradually, small signs of life appear, starting with Silverswords. These little plants look like silver painted pineapple tops growing from the sand. This is the only place on earth where they grow.
The farther you walk, the more vegetation you see. In the early afternoon, we reached a cabin with a grassy 'yard' in front. This was not our final destionation though. Continuing towards Paliku, the trail winds through the cinder cones. At first they're just tall rocky, sandy cones. Later, they're covered in grass, and even small shrubs. The trail underfoot changes from sand to rock to mud. When its rock, its sometimes the rough, jagged, sharp 'popcorn' looking rock. Other times its smooth, like asphalt.
Note the tall grasses and greenery on the cliff behind. Paliku is the lush end of the crater.
I reached Paliku a bit ahead of Mom and Jim. Mom's not really into this whole hiking thing, and wasn't used to carrying a pack such a distance. Upon reaching Paliku, I fired up the stove to boil some water, knowing Mom would enjoy some tea at her arrival. When the water boiled, I shut down the stove and retraced my steps down the trail to meet them. About a half mile out we ran into each other, so I took Mom's pack and we walked back together. Let me tell you, there is no better way to score brownie points than to carry someone's pack at the end of the day, and serve them hot tea too!
Hiking out, I stopped for a self-portrait (I kinda like doing these). You can see that the vegetation is
of a more durable variety than at Paliku. As you hike back out of the crater the rock to plant ratio increases
steadily, until there is only rock.
Mom and Jim near some cinder cones in the middle of the crater. The photos do not do justice to the colors
of the rock. It is amazing to see such streaks of color amidst all the black rock.
Mom and I in the same spot.
Continuing past these cinder cones, we lunched at a cabin at the base of the crater rim. The area had a little grass, presumably what little rain falls is collected by the crater rim and concentrated at the base. Following lunch, we began the trek out.
The walk out is up a cliff wall - many many switchbacks take you slowly up the wall. The views from the trail vary between looking back into the crater, and down the flow towards the main part of the island. While we ascended, the trade winds blew clouds up from the sea. The moist air would rise, following the trail of the lava to this break in the crater rim. As the air rises, the moisture condenses into thick, foggy, cool clouds. At times, while following the trail, I could see little more then 50 ft of trail before and behind me; the wall on the left, clouds and a dropoff on the right. Very surreal. I tried some photos, but find it very difficult to catch this condition on film.
Based on the vegetation, this weather is fairly typical for the area. Succulent fern type plants cling to various cracks in the lava. I'm sure they don't get much rain, but instead get watered directly by the clouds - near 100% humidity, but cool. This environment makes hiking easy too - there certainly wasn't much chance to overheat, despite a heavy pack and a long climb.
To summarize, I had a fantastic time. Walking into the crater is an incredible experience. Being able to see such different vegetation (none to lush to none) in such a small area is fascinating. My goal is to go back one day, and hike from sea level to the summit. The park boundaries extend beyond the crater - from Paliku, the park continues down the lava flow, nearly to the ocean below. I would like to start at the ocean and hike to the summit. I think one day from the ocean to Paliku, another day (fairly easy) to walk the length of the crater, and a final day to walk up Sliding Sands trail to finish at the summit.
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