Today we woke up to another sunny morning, just after 7am, and prepared for a road trip to Haleakalā Nation Park, and the highest point on the island of Maui. We had breakfast in our room, grabbed some jackets, and after a quick stop to get gas we were on our way.
The trip to Haleakalā is pretty straightforward 45 minute drive and easy to manage, but once you begin the ascent up the mountain, things get a bit more interesting. Before you even get to the national park, you climb up the side of Haleakalā for nearly 7000 feet via a series of switchbacks and winding road. The view of the west side of the island is quite spectacular, with the West Maui Mountains rising with you and the ocean spreading out in all its varying blues. Once you get inside the park, however, all the guard rails disappear (!) and you scale the remaining 3000+ feet trying not to look down the mountainside.
For reasons we never did learn, there was no admission to the park today, and soon after the park boundary we stopped at the Park Headquarters, Visitor’s Centre. This is a small interpretive centre with lots of books, maps and souvenirs, and some park naturalists to ask questions of. There’s also a small Junior Rangers’ station here.
From here we ascended almost directly to the peak of Haleakalā, but were quickly surrounded by the clouds that surrounded the mountain top. It was a surreal feeling to be leaving the lush, brightly lit hillside and having the view gradually reduced to a dense and foggy perimeter of a few hundred feed around, especially as the vegetation gradually gave way to a rocky and largely barren landscape. When we arrived at the summit Visitor’s Centre (not quite the summit itself), we could not see very far at all.
What we could see was nicely put in context for us by the park ranger who was just beginning a short hike around the centre. We followed and learned about the endangered Hawaiian petrel (or ʻuaʻu – “oo-A-oo”) that makes its home underground and has its largest nesting area here. We didn’t see any as they are nocturnal, but in several places you could speculate on the openings to their burrows. We also learned about silverswords (‘ahinahina), plants which can live anywhere from 3-90 years, bloom once, then die. Our ranger gave us more info about the unique environment we were visiting, from its volcanic origins to the erosion-carved current landscape, the natural and human history of the mountain, and answered many questions.
Once we were back at the summit Visitor’s Centre we toured through the small viewing space and got a sense from the relief map in front of us of some of the detail of Haleakalā’s crater, and were able to see down the near side of the crater’s edge. The crater is very large, with a few dormant cinder cones easy to make out on a clear day, and many opportunities for long hikes (with horses an option) and overnight camping (what a Scouting adventure that would be!) – and apparently one of the best stargazing opportunities in the world!
Finally, we drove the last few hundred metres to the summit’s peak (Puʻu ʻUlaʻula – or Red Hill) is at 10,024 feet – although our ranger tells us that it’s much more impressive to relate that the peak is comparable to Everest if measured from the mountain’s actual base (which is some 20,000 feet below sea level 🙂 ). We stayed at the peak and read through the interpretive materials, but the clouds never did clear for us, and while the surreal environment – some have described as a moonscape – was certainly spectacular, we never did see further than nearby the Science City observatory post to the commanding views of the the nearby islands and ocean shores that decorate the travellers’ guides. Still, a summit achievement and a very interesting experience!
On our return trip back down the mountain we made one additional stop at Hosner Grove, which offers a short hiking trail with an interesting theme: experimental forestation of trees introduced for their potential as lumber! Most species failed but the Mexican weeping pine, Montery pine and eucalyptus did rather too well and are recognized as an aggressive invasive species now. It’s very odd to see North American and European conifers here. We were also lucky to see another rare species – this time the bright red Hawaiian honeycreeper which are protected here.
We left the park then in the early afternoon, and stopped at the Kula Lodge to grab a bite to eat. They have several pre-made lunches (appropriate, it seems, to take into the park with you) and we sat on their deck to replenish ourselves. Then we carried on across the island to the west shore and through an rather tedious traffic snarl back to Lahaina. We were early then for our dinner reservation, so we strolled down to the beach and removed our sandals and had a nice leisurely stroll along the shore until about 5:30.
We discovered early, and yet too late in our trip planning, that the booking an “authentic” luau is something that needs to be done several weeks in advance. On Maui, the most recommended experience is the Old Lahaina Luau (which is held where we had our Aloha Mixed Plate yesterday), but also highly recommended is the Feast at Lelē’s where we enjoyed a beach-side outdoor pan-Polynesian five-course meal representing four major Pacific traditions. Each course is accompanied by a corresponding performance traditional to the area from which your course has been selected.
The evening went like this: we arrived at about 5:30pm and were led to the mai tais – every drink had a corresponding non-alcohol version, so the kids were able to participate. We had assigned seating, and at 6pm we were ushered to our tables, newly bedecked in leis, and offered drinks. A hostess came on-stage and welcomed us (guessing a group of 200+ diners) and gave us the let us know how the evening would proceed. We had two wait staff to our table throughout the evening. For each course we were presented with large plates of the main items from which we could each take as much or as little as we wanted to try.
Our first course was from Hawaii and consisted of Bamboo Pineapple Rice, Lomi Lomi Salmon and Kalo Puree, and Kalua Pua’a (traditional underground oven pork dish). We were treated – of course – to Hula dancing and several other local dance traditions. Our second course celebrated New Zealand and consisted of Pikopiko Fern Salad, Harore Kumara (mushrooms and sweet potato), and Miti Hangi (short ribs). The third course reflected Tahitian tradition with Baked Scallop, Poisson Cru (diced fish and vegetables), and Moa (grilled chicken). And our fourth course, heralding from Samoa, consisted of Pani Popa (soft roll), Palusami (corned beef and breadfruit), and I’a (fresh sea fish). Lastly, for dessert we enjoyed pineapple upside down cake.
Somewhere during the first course, the sun went down and we enjoyed another wonderful Hawaiian sunset.
The food and the entertainment were wonderful throughout and we had great opportunities to try dishes we’d never experienced before. The dancing and performances were well-orchestrated and executed, with fun and excitement built in, and the elaborate costumes and greatly varied dance styles were captivating. The finale performance was a Samoan fire-dance, a great crowd pleaser, and a thrilling way to end the evening.
Stuffed with good food and still marvelling at the evening’s performances, we made our way back to the car and drove back to Kihei without incident. Late getting in, we didn’t spend much time winding up our day before heading for bed – another busy one in front of us!
