Haleakala (Maui Part 2)

For our first night in Haleakala National Park, we camped in a Park Service campsite called Hosmer Grove. It was at elevation 7,000 feet and quite a bit colder than we've experienced in quite a while! Even the nights at elevation in Kaua'i weren't this cold! We saw a group of 6 i'iwi, which is an endangered forest bird.
Fleece pajamas, hats, and gloves!!

We woke up really early to make the half hour drive to the summit of Haleakala to watch the sunrise over the crater. Then we had to drive back down, pick up our gear, and get our permit to spend the night in the crater.
Brrrr.....

But the sunrise was definitely worth the cold, early rise!


We hit the trail by about 10 a.m. and started down the Sliding Sands trail. We had 7.5 miles ahead of us to our campsite. The trail was like hiking on the thicker sand of a beach. Gabbi and Jacqui did great! They each carried a backpack with their clothes. We passed a group that was taking a horse tour into the crater. Then they passed us while we ate lunch when we were getting close to the bottom. Getting ready for sliding sands!

Some parts of the hike really felt like we were on the moon.

The silversword plants were absolutely beautiful! They had an almost iridescent shine and the ones that were in bloom smelled wonderful. It produces its huge flowering spike only once after growing for about 20 years. They are endemic to Hawai'i and are only present at high altitudes.

Maybe they wouldn't mind if we just borrowed one....

Very interesting lava formations.


When we got to the campsite, we set up camp then went down to the water source (a spigot) to filter water. A couple of very friendly nene (hawaiian goose) visited us and drank from our pot.
There's always time and energy for gymnastics!

The quiet and stillness of being in the crater, was like no other experience we've had in Hawai'i yet. Part of the crater was considered a cloud forest and the clouds were level with the inside of the crater, so for a while, we were totally in the clouds.


The view of the stars from in the crater was absolutely breathtaking. I really wish that I had a tripod to attempt a reasonable picture, but it wouldn't have done it justice. I had a hard time picking out the constellations that I did know because all of the stars were so bright! On Friday (Danielle's birthday!), we took our time getting started and were treated to African dance in the crater. The hike out was about 4 miles and almost all uphill. We made it and I caught a ride to pick up our car. I was actually pretty surprised that even though I was in the Park at a designated hiker pick-up/hitch-hiking spot, the first 13 cars that I saw went right by. But, a friendly couple from Oregon finally picked me up and I completed the trip for the car!

We are so done with this hike!

After a stop at the Visitor Center for the girls to pick up their Junior Ranger badges, we started back down toward sea level.