Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [345]
About 20 minutes before sunrise, the light intensifies on the horizon in bright oranges and reds. Turn around for a look at Science City, whose domes turn a blazing pink. For the grand finale, the moment when the disk of the sun appears, all of Haleakalā takes on a fiery glow. It feels like you’re watching the earth awaken.
Come prepared – it’s going to be c-o-l-d! Temperatures hovering around freezing and a biting wind are the norm at dawn and there’s often a frosty ice on the top layer of cinders. If you don’t have a winter jacket or sleeping bag to wrap yourself in, bring a warm blanket from your hotel. However many layers of clothes you can muster, it won’t be too many.
The best photo opportunities occur before the sun rises. Every morning is different, but once the sun is up, the silvery lines and the subtleties disappear.
One caveat: a rained-out sunrise is an anticlimactic event after tearing yourself out of bed in the middle of the night to drive up a pitch-dark mountain. So check the weather report ( 866-944-5025) the night before to calculate your odds of having clear skies.
If you just can’t get up that early, sunsets at Haleakalā have inspired poets as well.
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TOP PICKS – HALEAKALĀ DAY HIKES
How much time do you have? Pick the ideal day hike to suit your schedule.
Ten hours: If you’re in good physical shape and can get an early start, the 11.2-mile hike that starts down Sliding Sands Trail and returns via Halemau′u Trail (Click here) is the prize. Crossing the crater floor, it takes in a cinder desert and a cloud forest, showcasing the park’s diversity.
Three hours: For a half-day experience that offers a generous sampling of crater sights, follow Sliding Sands Trail (Click here) down to the Ka Lu′u o ka O′o cinder cone and back. The easy bit? It takes just one hour to get down. The workout? You’ve got yourself a 1500ft elevation rise, making the return a strenuous two-hour climb.
One hour: See Haleakalā’s green side along the forested Hosmer Grove Trail (Click here).
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To get to the trailhead, go past Pu′u′ula′ula (Red Hill) Overlook and take the road to the left just before Science City. The road, which passes over a cattle grate, is signposted not for public use, but continue and you’ll soon find a Na Ala Hele sign marking the trailhead.
The Skyline Trail starts in open terrain of volcanic cinder, and passes more than a dozen cinder cones and craters. The first mile is rough lava rock. After a crunchy 3 miles, it reaches the tree line (8500ft) and enters native mamane forest. In winter mamane is heavy with flowers that look like yellow sweet-pea blossoms. There’s solitude on this walk. If the clouds treat you kindly, you’ll have broad views all the way between the barren summit and the dense cloud forest. Eventually the trail meets the Polipoli access road, where you can either walk to the paved road in about 4 miles, or continue via the Haleakalā Ridge Trail and Polipoli Trail to the campground.
If you prefer treads to hiking boots, the Skyline Trail is an exhilarating adventure on a mountain bike.
Cycling & Mountain Biking
CYCLING
Those one-way downhill group cycle tours once wildly popular are currently banned from the park (see the boxed text, Click here). Individual cyclists, however, can still pedal their way up the mountain. It’s a real quad buster.
MOUNTAIN BIKING
For experienced mountain bikers the Skyline Trail (Click here) is the island’s ultimate wild ride, plunging some 3000ft in the first 6 miles with a breathtaking 10% grade. The trail starts out looking like the moon and ends up in a cloud forest of redwood and cypress trees that resembles California’s northern coast. The route follows a rough 4WD road that’s used to maintain Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area (Click here). For cripes sake, equip yourself with full pads, use a proper downhill bike and watch that you don’t run any hikers down. Crater