Today is upcountry day. We’ve been watching the weather, and it looks like today is the best day to drive up to the Haleakala volcano park. It is also a free day at the park because of President Bush’s funeral (but that doesn’t really matter to us because we have our lifetime pass).
It’s a gorgeously sunny, clear day as we start out on our hour plus drive up the volcano. Starting at sea level, we make our way toward Kahului, then turn right past the old Baldwin and Alexander Sugar mill (closed in 2016) and up toward Haleakala on highway 37. The four lane highway quickly begins to rise up above sea level as we head toward the 10,000 foot summit of the volcano. We’ve tried to time this so that we can go to Fatt Chicks food truck for what we have read are outstanding hamburgers. We make it to Pukalani around 10:30, fully expecting the truck to be open as we had researched opening time online, but the sign says open at 11:00. Ok, that’s not going to work. We aren’t hanging around for half an hour just to eat $14 burgers – no matter how good they may be. We had hedged our bets and brought last night’s left over steak with us, so we duck into Long’s Drugs and pick up a bag of ranch and bacon popcorn for snacks – voila! Instant picnic! This will work.
So, back on the road again, we continue to head up, up, up – through cute little upcountry neighborhoods with houses perched on the hillsides and nestled into coves, all with amazing views across the ranchland and down to the coast. After winding our way through these cozy little neighborhoods, we finally reach the Haleakala road, and begin the true ascent up to the volcano. The road is two lanes, but fairly narrow, although there are quite few pullouts to allow for beautiful vistas over three-quarters of the island (and to allow faster drivers to pass).
The road traverses the mountainside, back and forth, revealing incredible views with every twist and turn.We’re above the clouds…but there are no clouds! So we’re just driving higher and higher with achingly beautiful vistas down below to Kihei, Kahului and Paia.
An we’re not even onto the National Park grounds yet! When we finally do reach the park, the road narrows further, with absolutely no guardrails, just this little raised curb like structure on the side. It’s actually a little frightening to look over the side of the mountain and know there is no protection – just a long, long way down. Ed negotiates all this beautifully, but it is still nerve wracking, particularly when you have large vehicles driven by tourists who don’t know what they are doing (and they are driving ridiculously huge SUVs or Jeep) coming at you. Ack.
After most of an hour of treacherous, but incredible beautiful driving, we finally reach the summit of Haleakala. It is a stunningly beautiful day, not a cloud in the skies near us – just way down below by Wailuku and out across the water. I had forgotten how beautiful and serene (except for the 30 mph freezing wind) this place really is – the deep ochre and umber colored crater rising up into the sheer black lava peaks. I could spend eons up here just staring – except even with all the cold weather gear we have on, it’s still wicked cold in that wind!
We manage to fight the gusts and make our way around the summit building, then out onto the eastside of the summit for an incredible view of the big island of Hawaii, Mauna Kea on the left, Mauna Loa on the right, bathed in a cloud halo, about 100 miles away. It’s pretty phenomenal to see the big island this clearly. We totally picked the right day to come up here.
As we complete the little circuit path at the summit, we turn toward the observatory complex where eight facilities share in the most sought after location for telescopes. Because of the height, the air quality and the lack of light pollution, the summit of Haleakala has attracts experts from all over the world for ground-based celestial and space exploration. Everything from climate and Teutonic plate monitoring to identifying and tracking all man-made objects in space are contained in this impressive collection of high powered telescopes and satellite installations. ,
We’ve made it to the top, so the only direction left is down. And down we go – first stopping at the visitors’ center for more incredible photos of the volcano crater closer up…
…then into the center for the passport stamp (on a piece of paper I will tape into the passport when we get home, because we absolutely NEVER have that thing with us when we need it) and a really cool long sleeve t-shirt for Ed. Shopping and bathroom break complete, we reverse our route and head back down the scary, narrow little Haleakala road, stopping at one of the pull offs for a very scenic lunch.
Back down at sea level, we decide to detour over to Ho’okipa Beach to see how the waves and surfers are doing. The waves have been huge the last few days, and although we’ve just missed the Jaws competition here, the waves are still forecasted to be really large on the North side of the island (as they are on Oahu as well for the Van’s competition). While the waves are indeed large today, the wind is wicked and making the water really choppy and waves inconsistent. So, there aren’t any surfers out (who can blame them) but still tons of us “spectators” around watching the water.
After a lovely conversation with a local who has been here 17 years or so, but had also looked at moving to Asheville!), we pack ourselves back into the car and head to the cottage to unwind (read that un wind, as in gale force wind – LOL).
Later that night, we head down to Moose Mcgillycuddy’s for burger night. We came here quite often on our first visit to Maui, but not so much last year as there are so many places within walking distance. But tonight we figure we’ll return to our old haunts, since we always enjoyed it there. We luck out and get the last 2 seats at the bar. Happy hour is the same yukky wine, so I’m the expensive date with regular price wine. Ed of course is happy with the beer – and he is equally happy with his burger, while I am in heaven with my Kahlua pork quesadilla. Yum.
On the way home, we decide to stop for a night cap at What Ales You?, which is fast becoming our favorite spot. We strike up a conversation with Laura, who moved here 2 years ago and has fully embraced the Maui lifestyle. She thinks we live here too and when we tell her we don’t, she tells us we “wear Maui well.” We’ll take that as a very nice compliment!
Later, back at the cottage, we hang out on the sweet little porch, finishing our nightcaps before retiring to prepare for more adventures in the morning.
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