Haleakala and following adventures

Last week I embarked on a journey across Haleakala Crater with some very good friends. I had recently bounced around on the Big Island and had been mesmerized by the most recent lava flows on these islands. Deep, dark black deserts. Imagining the bubbling-hot, exploding destructive crazy lava was absolutely mind blowing in such a peaceful stable looking landscape. In other places, though, we could see the steam exiting the earth through holes. Hot, humid, stinky air pouring out of vents in the ground. AMAZING.

Haleakala was a very different experience. The flows happened a lot longer ago- so the progression back to soil and plants is much further underway. When you walk through the crater there is just this sense of rebirth of the land. The beginning of the hike was absolutely desolate- mars like. We were walking down broken up lava rock. It was all pebble sized and could barely sustain life- one of the only things that could really grow was this plant called the 'silversword'. 

This is on the drive up- you can see we were above the clouds when we started. One of my favorite things- above the clouds!!! Its amazing to look down and see clouds and their shadows over places you are familiar with. Its like having an airplane view from the ground. AMAZING.

See, very little life on the beginning of the hike. Hikers are strongly encouraged to stay on the trail because moving off the trail will leave foot prints for far longer than you realize- the cinder is heavy and doesn't easily blow in the wind. You would leave a lasting impact on the pristine environment. 

Here is me on MARS. Kidding its actually the crater :) Please note the incredibly AWESOME bandana that my parents sent me for Christmas. SHINER! and now they are brewing so I can really tell people my parents own Shiner Beer (or fifth street brews or whatever they are calling it)

SuSu, Ryboy and I just chillin in the very cold desert like climate. 

LIFE! We started getting into the older part of the crater. Plants have broken down and become soil, allowing for a more suitable growing environment for a more diverse community of plants. From this point on it was increasinly diverse EXCEPT for points where we could REALLY see lava rock and it had barely started the breaking down process.

Clouds rollin' innnn! 

Looking at the other side of the crater, same clouds rollin' in the gap!

We had been hiking down, down, down and finally made it to cloud level.

This is the pointy lava rock- its called A'a. If you were walking on it you'd say "A'a a'a a'a" hahah It is pretty brittle too. 

This is ropey pahoe-hoe. This kind of formation fascinates me because you can really see how it was molten, flowing, liquid rock. It cooled and built up. Again, amazing.

This is right where the rope pahoehoe was- amongst this beautiful mountain landscape. Life is taking hold on this part of the crater. SURIVOR plants

These are Ne'ne they are endangered geese that live in Haleakala. Brad calculated that we saw about 5% of the global ne'ne population on our hike. They had a bunch of babies- one couple had seven! SEVEN little endangered babes. So cute. They were very protective;

Susu and Ry when we arrived at the Paliku cabin.

Baby Ne'ne!

They are endangered and need to live and survive on their own without begging for food from humans. This cabin is pretty much inhabited 365 days a year- its important that they keep eating grass and bugs like they are supposed to instead of doritos and white bread. This is the spot where I star gazed in complete darkness and wonderful wilderness silence.

Sunset out the gap.

Hiking out the gap. Life continues to be more diverse in animals and plants. The ocean is deceivingly close looking- although we felt like it was just a mile or two away we were still a gooooood 5 miles from the end of the hike here. All downhill, some treacherous trails. Some weak knees and sore calves. 

On da trail. TREES, again. Shade, lovely, wonderful shade. 

Almost to the kaupo store for a ice cold celebratory beer and ice cream. 

Driving home through Kanio. 

I spent a lot of this week at the school and dinkin' around. I went up to the crater again last weekend with some friends and tried to catch sunrise but missed it by a few minutes. I hiked at twin falls with a new friend from Michigan that I met through my pal Shamar and it was awesome. She just moved here in Deember and it was fun to show her Maui jungles. 

Last weekend I went to Leftover Salmon talked to Vince after the show and he gave me the spoons he used that night. SWEET. I also scored a free Maui tour shirt when they were throwing  them off the porch. Also sweet. It was super fun to go to a jammy bluegrass show- I needed that. And I got to spend it with my new buds! Very special. We rode in a truck bed (legal in Hawaii) back upcountry. Very fun.

Today I went to Ho'okipa and then to Jaws to watch surfers. Ho'okipa was going off and there were about a zillion little bobbing bodies bouncing around in the waves. Jaws is apparently about to blow up this next week- when we went today there were only about 5 guys out there. The waves were pretty big but they were waiting for the legendary waves that are set to come in. The beach has HUUUUGE rocks and its pretty dangerous getting in and out when the waves are crashing. We watched three guys getting out just after sunset and it was a little scary. I definitely wanna go there again.

Must get some rest. Goin on a full moon moonlight hike tomorrow :) Infinitely happy.


Aloha pumehana,

Bets