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.