Haleakala and Hana Redux

Maggie and I went to bed early after our first full day on the island so that we could get up at two in the morning to get ready to watch the sunrise on Mount Haleakala. Hoi and Pauline also came along in a separate car. The drive up in the pitch darkness of the night was fun and exciting, with only the lights of the cars in front and behind us illuminating the narrow road up the mountain. We arrived at the main parking lot around four - just as they closed the top parking lot. I asked the parking attendant if we could go up. He told me that we could park in the hash marked area and then closed the road behind us. Lucky!

When we got to the top parking lot and turned off the car lights, I realized how dark dark could be. The moon was not out, which only left the starlight and milky way illuminating the skies. I had never seen the skies this dark before with nary a cloud in the sky. It was a fantastic view.

There was something else that we noticed quickly. We were told that it would be cold up there, that it would be freezing. We did not realize that they literally meant that! When we got to the observation building, I saw frozen puddles of water here and there. The temperature I could handle with my jacket and blanket, but it was the brisk freezing wind that caused the most grief. It cut right through my clothing and chilled everyone down to the bone. Staying inside the (unheated) observation hut was bearable, but those that stayed inside lost their prime viewing spots outside, so we spent most of our time shivering in the darkness, waiting for the sun to rise.

Watching the morning sunrise on Haleakala. It was cold!

And it did rise, bit it was not a quick affair. The glow of the sun began early, but for the next couple of hours, we watched as the glow grew and slowly pushed the stars away until the final climax when the sun itself broke through the horizon, and there was light! Indeed, one should watch the sun rise at least once in their life.

After the sun had finally risen, we wandered around the peak to observe the telescopes and examine the flora and fauna endemic to that part of the island. We also saw some woman in a bikini and a guy in swimming trunks. Walking around in the cold air. Silly people!

We headed back down the mountain and it was only then, in the light of day, that I noticed that the road up the mountain had no barriers whatsoever to the cliff edge. Sometimes there was a tiny shoulder to drive on, but usually not. I think it was better driving up in the dark: You would not know what awaited you if you did leave the road..

We had no plans for the rest of the day, so we started off with breakfast at McDonald's. I usually avoid that fast food joint like the plague but nothing else was open. They also had quite an interesting menu that had a breakfast meal consisting of spam, fried eggs and rice. I decided not to order that.

Even though we had driven part of the way to Hana the day before, I wanted to make it all the way across, so we got together in one car and started off on the Hana Highway again. I got a little car sick the first time, and since I was not feeling too tired, I decided to drive this time around. I feel sorry for Maggie, Hoi, and Pauline who had to suffer through my crazy driving, but the roads were twisty, windy, and fun to drive on!

We sped past all of the sights that we had seen before, and stopped off at some other funny garden thing and an area that had a number of shacks selling wares. Unfortunately, being Christmas, there was only one place open, and they were selling roasted coconut chips. With no other food available, and after trying some tasty samples, we got a couple of bags.

We were able to get to Hana pretty quickly, but it was the East coast that the GyPSy GPS was telling us to check out, so we did.

Sitting by the shore at Koki Beach Park.

The guide took us on a detour to a peninsula that had a nice looking beach with some decent surf. We stopped for a while to take some photos.

If I waited long enough, I could be trapped in a Banyan jail cell.

But further along was a fairly popular waterfall that everyone stops to take photos at.

Wailua Falls is a popular waterfall that we were able to hike next to.

We also were able to enter Haleakela National Park from the eastern side and see the part of the park that was dominated by that side of the mountain. (We had seen the western portion of the park when we went up to watch the sunrise - or more accurately, when we came down after seeing the sunrise since we saw nothing on the way up.)

The East shore is considerably more windy than the West shore, so the surf is that much bigger.

The last thing we saw on the road past Hana was the Seven Sacred Pools, named by some tourist company to attract attention and get people to come out to visit that part of the island. Otherwise, they were not really sacred.

The Seven Sacred Pools, or more accurately, the Pools at Ohe'o.

We were hungry so we stopped off for a late lunch at some restaurant - the only one that was open on Christmas Day. This was a mistake. We had a BBQ lined up for dinner and eating a heavy lunch at four did not give us enough time to digest, but I digress.

We drove the rest of the way back without incident, although I think Hoi was a little worse for wear after suffering my crazy weaving. We were also somewhat late in arriving for dinner (the one that we were supposed to be hosting) but everyone was in good spirits, and we managed to hand out the gift bags and gifts to everyone in attendance.

After dinner, as we were heading back to our rooms, the power went out, plunging the area into darkness. By the time I got used to feeling my way around in the dark, the lights came back on, only to go off again not long later.