Maui, Hawaii Day 2, A Day in the Clouds and on Another Planet at Haleakala

August 4

Guess what time I woke up this morning? 3am is correct! Regan asked me to come on this trip in June, after I used up all my PTO, so if I wanted to come, I had to do some maneuvering to make this work out. So, I decided to WFH (Work from Hawaii) Monday and Tuesday, and take the rest of the week off. Because I wanted to be logged on at 8am CT when my team members were also online, that meant 3am was my wake up call in Maui. However, I didn’t totally mind because I would do just about anything to be able to travel, and was grateful that my manager even let me work remotely the first half of the week so I could spend Wednesday through Friday with Regan in Hawaii. 

Because I was sharing the hostel room with one other person, I made sure to grab all my stuff and head out to the common space. I was dying for some coffee, but it was so early in the morning the timer set on the machine hadn’t started for the morning. I found a spot on the nice couch they had, grateful to be in a position of comfort for at least the first hour of work. I was catching up with some coworkers, describing to them my day yesterday on the Road to Hana, I was responding to emails and taking calls that I thankfully just had to listen in on. It was actually really cool to watch the sunrise and see how fast the morning can fly by when you are working. But, soon enough, people started waking up and the hostel was full enough that I started to feel as though I couldn’t use the living room to take calls and I had one coming up that I needed to speak during, so I packed up my stuff and went to one of the only laptop working cafes on the street, Story.

Around 10am, I went to Story, ordered a coffee, found a spot with an outlet nearby that happened to be by a window with an incredible view of the mountains. I was not expecting the interaction with nature at this cafe, what a joyful surprise. I took my call, got everything sorted, and logged off around 11:30am which is 4:30pm in Minneapolis. Crazy how the timing of that works. Logging off and having the whole day in front of me. I feel like some people don’t even get their day started until then and I just completed a full work day. It was quite the feeling, as though I lived two lives in one day. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my day. I wanted to take advantage of having the rental car today and see something that was a drive away. I was debating between Haleakala National Park or exploring the West side of the Island. I really wanted to do Haleakala, a famous mountain on the island, but what held me back was the $30 entrance fee and the clouds in the sky that would potentially block the view. But, thanks to my outgoing and resourcefulness self, I asked the girl next to me who seemed to be living on the island and I asked her what she thinks I should do with the rest of my day. When she recommended Haleakala and described it as breathtaking with a powerful energy, I knew that it was something I’d have to experience. She also pointed out to me that there are clouds almost every day and today’s weren’t that bad and I should totally go. She also let me know that it is colder up there so I brought a jacket. Her tips and recs came in clutch because I ended up having the most amazing day there.

With my plan now set, I walked back to the hostel, got ready for the day, packing up my bag and car, and getting a move on. I was excited to drive again, there’s so much sightseeing that occurs from point A to B and it was in fact a lovely drive. Starting at sea level, I watched as each sign I drove past marked another thousand feet of elevation gained. The roads were not bad whatsoever until you reached the entrance of the park.

And let me tell you one more story, and this goes to show how lucky I am. One of the only things holding me back was the price and being worried about not seeing the view, but when I went online to pre-purchase my entrance ticket, it was unavailable to schedule for the day I thought that it was all booked for the day. At first, I was so mad at myself that I missed the ability to reserve a spot, either I was too late in the day or it was fully booked, I couldn’t believe I dropped the ball. But, didn't give up and investigated the website for why I couldn't book day of, to then stumble on the list of free entrance days. There were maybe about 5-7 days in the year that were free to enter the park and August 4th happened to be one of them. So let's all give a hand to the Great American Outdoors Act Signing Day! I surely did.

I went from being so sad that I might have just missed my opportunity to see this National Park and having to rework a plan for today, to being absolutely elated that now I was getting to see it for free! That to me was a massive dub and made my spirits even higher.

Typically, people come to Haleakala to watch either the sunrise or sunset, as the way the clouds lay on the top of the mountain makes for an incredible sunrise/sunset as the sun either rises from the clouds or melts into the earth. Because I had to work this morning, I missed the sunrise, and because I had to turn in the rental car at 8pm, I couldn’t stay for sunset. I wasn’t too bummed because part of me was nervous about driving in the dark, so I was totally ok with coming during the daylight and leaving with the sun still high in the sky. The drive to Haleakala was about an hour and a half, so I didn’t see my first sight until 2pm. I won’t lie, I did pull over a few times to take some photos of the incredible drive up, and that definitely delayed me a bit, but it’s all a part of the journey. 

Just like the road to Hana, there were a couple dead spots on the way up where there was no reception. Thankfully I had saved some viewpoints and lookouts that I wanted to stop at before getting to the summit. The first outlook being Leleiwi Overlook. This was supposed to look out at a crater formed in the mountain and I saw a few blurry pictures on All Trails and from that it looked cool enough to make a stop for, but I still wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to see. I parked in the lot and found the trail for the quick walk to the lookout point. I was alone on this trail and alone when I turned the corner to get my first glimpse at the crater. My jaw was on the floor. My hand raced to my mouth and I began to quicken my steps to get a better view, to rub my eyes and make sure that what I was seeing was real. What I was seeing was so out of this world unreal and beautiful that I could not fathom I was there, right now, seeing what I’m seeing. I seriously questioned if I was on planet earth. How had I not known this was here? I could not believe I almost missed seeing this, thank goodness for how the stars aligned on my decision to come here, because seeing this was once in a lifetime.

I stared for minutes, took endless photos because I couldn’t seem to capture the real beauty and and what my eyes were laid upon. I read the infographic there to learn a bit more about the formation. It dealt with the trade winds getting caught in the crater, spinning around and creating the mini mountains coming up from the crater. I was there for so long because I didn’t know what else I was going to see on this drive. I was getting more excited by the minute.

I was met with another family, I chatted with them for a bit on what stops are worthwhile and I added a few more places to the list I had going. I finally decided to keep going as now I had a few more things to see and a hike I wanted to go on, so I had to get moving in order to do it all. I went to the next lookout and this one had my favorite view of the crater. I also stopped in the visitor center, got some advice on what to see, and since I didn’t have a ton of time, I opted for the very quick hike up to get a good view of the crater. There was a 13 and 17 mile hike around the crater that I really wanted to do, but I’m guessing you figured I couldn’t do them today still. Hopefully one day I’ll be back on the island and can give it a go. It’s for sure going on my list of dream hikes, even though I’ve been here before now, I would still love to experience that trail and see everything I missed on the island, as two days out and about was not enough. 

I caught the view from up top the visitor center trail, and then drove the mile or so farther to get to the very top, the summit. It was a similar view of the crater, but what was most worthwhile about going to the summit was you could see the big island in the distance from the other side of the mountain. How cool that in the middle of the ocean and peaking through the clouds was another Hawaiian island. Amazing.

Now having reached the top, I slowly made my way down the hill, stopping at all the places I missed on my way up. The first was another lookout, Kalahaku Overlook, this view highlighted the height of the clouds. To think that we are above the clouds on this mountain is incredible, and this made me realize why this is the perfect sunrise spot.

Next was a hike that led to a lower part of the crater, Halemau’u Trail. I was super worried about time and making sure that I would be back down in the city in time to still see the beach with the turtles, get dinner, fill up with gas, and return the car, all before 8pm. And it was 4pm. I got this. But, I did in fact start running the trail when I didn’t mind the mini workout and hopeful thinking that I would be able to shave some time off the hike and relieve my stress by doing so. Sadly, I thought I made it to the end, but I don’t think I did, because I stopped once I saw the crater, but there was no unique view, and there was supposed to be this rainbow bridge, I believe. I did get to see the clouds meet the outer edge of the crater and get a more eye level view of it! I couldn’t complain about getting another opportunity to look inside the crater. The journey back was uphill and much more difficult to run, so this way I sped walked instead, and still managed to keep the hike around 45 minutes for 2 miles!

After the hike/trail run, I was thirsty and hungry, so before beginning my full descent back to sea level, I munched on some leftover popcorn and chugged my water bottle. My last stop was the visitor center at the base of the park which was closed but you could still access to a bathroom and water refiller. It felt like stopping at a gas station for a bathroom break, and right back in to keep going on your way. My maps had me routed to Ho’okopia Beach Park, which was only about an hour drive from the entrance which wasn’t bad! I would have plenty of time to make this one last stop with my car, and get my chores done before returning the car. 

Ho’okopia beach was amazing. I could've spent my whole day there, and many more on top of that. What I loved about it were the turtles basking in the sun for one, the surfers to watch and maybe even try my hand out there for two, the cliff jumping to the right, three, and the beautiful natural rock formation that was stacked right where the water meets the shore, four. I walked around the beach and stayed there as long as I could before I started pushing my luck with returning the rental.

To save time, I went straight to a health foods grocery store and hauled their hot bar for some tofu, curry, and vegetables. It was the protein kick I needed to refuel from the past few days and found a Safeway Fuel nearby that was much more cost effective than some other places, spending only $20 on gas in total. After almost two full days of driving, I was very impressed with the fuel efficiency of the Toyota Corolla. 

It was starting to get dark, I found my way to the car rental place, dropped off the vehicle, and caught an Uber to return to Paia, my sweet town. And that was the end of the night for me! I was joyous when I entered my hostel room and saw that no one was staying in it. Just me. Heavenly. I even saved myself the trouble of putting on my eye mask because there was no possibility for a light to flick on in the middle of the night or ruffling of luggage and clothing. Plus, that meant that I could take some of my meetings in the hostel room instead of going to a noisy cafe. I was super happy about my stay here.