Hawaii Volcano Hiking

The Volcano Crater at Haleakala on the Island of Maui is almost 12,000 feet above sea level. We were there two years ago watching that great sunrise and fortunate enough to see the Geminids Meteor Shower. This is one of the best places in the world to watch the stars shoot across the sky.

God sure put on a great show that morning.

The little moisture in the air had frozen into crystals and you could notice it on the ground. It’s VERY dry here and you need to carry water and food on this trip.
I’m sure the park service carries a few people out of here every year when they underestimate the environment.

We decided to hike down the trail to the first “cinder cone” on the volcano floor and it turned out to be a five hour hike. Hiking down wasn’t bad but the trip back up was slow. It was hard to breathe and the trail is ciders and loose rock.

These guys were heading to one of the cabins on the volcano floor. There are four of them which can be rented for about $50 bucks but they are allotted by lottery drawing.

It takes years to get lucky enough to spend a night here.

When had lunch at the cinder cone and allowed our lungs to adjust as we began the long hike back to the crater rim. Its amazing life can still flourish here in this harsh environment but we found cactus and flowers that grow nowhere else but this crater.

Reaching the top after five hours was an accomplishment. This was the first time I had hiked above 6,000 feet. The old lungs are not the same they used to be when I was younger.

I’m not used to looking DOWN on the clouds.

Hawaii Sunrise

Sometimes you have to get up,
When the Rooster crows, early in the morning,

To watch a BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE.

Hawaii can cost big bucks,
But with some planning you can find these places
For as little as $45 a night.

It comes with its own alarm clock
(The Hawaiian Rooster).

In Hawaii there are
GREAT
SUNRISES and SUNSETS.

We actually rose at 4am to catch this moment.
It’s one of the most Spectacular Sunrises on Earth.

This morning it was below freezing
And there were ice crystals on the ground.

Hawaii Waters

There are many things to see and do in Hawaii.
This is a night picture of a volcano as we sailed up the coast.
It was taken close enough to have ash blown on the deck but still a long way away.
You don’t want to get any closer than this…

The trade winds and water temperature usually make the Islands perfect for Swimming and Snorkeling.

The fish are brilliant and we had the joy of swimming with some giant sea turtles.

We also swam in a “crystal clear geothermal pool” where you could see the heat rising from the sea floor and feel the water temperature when swimming along the bottom of the volcanic floor. There was NO sand here…only volcanic stones.

This made the water so clear you could see the length of an Olympic Swimming Pool.

We also kayaked up a river to a waterfall where we took a few moments to swim in a nice pool.

The water was so cold it made your teeth chatter.

After the two mile paddle to the end of the river (and the beginning of the stream with the waterfall) we hiked through the forest and listened to the sounds around us.

The woods are much different from West Virginia.

Hawaii

Honolulu was a welcome sight!
It took twenty five hours to get here from West Virginia.
There was snow and ice in the Midwest.

It seemed to take forever...

The Humpback Whales have arrived in the Islands.
They come from Alaska to have their Babies.


World regulations prohibit boats from approaching them.
There are strict guidelines to prevent collisions with the whales.
We saw one “breech” clear out of the water.
And we shut down the engines and listened to them talk.
It was an eerie language.
One approached us and was close enough for us to see its eyes.



And then we hiked across the lava.


The Volcano Kilauea is smoking in the distance.




We hiked around a new lava field and across an old one.




And the trail ended at the sea.





You would never know there used to be a town here.
It’s now below seventy five feet of lava.