5.29.2012

Maui (Part 2)—Haleakala and the Beaches

Aloha and welcome back to the Ramblin’ Bauers Hawaiian Expedition!  When we left you, Bilbo and I had just wrapped up a drive along the eastern coast of Maui on the Road to Hana.  We’ll pick things back up on the north eastern area of the island, where the resort-goers reside. 

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Having yet to spend any time sitting on the beach, we decided to stop off in the Kaanapali Beach Resort, which has public access during the day. We were quite pleasantly surprised to find that throughout Maui, the beaches are pristine and sparsely populated.  As you can see in the picture, coastline in Maui does not have copious amounts of sand; on the contrary, most beaches are located by a grassy area (like this one), below a cliff drop off, or on a rocky outcrop. 

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I’ll admit to my negligence in paying attention to what beach we visited, but I can tell you that the view was spectacular with crystal clear water, blue skies, and another island in the distance.  There is a group of 4 islands which were traditionally under the rule of one king and are now classified as Maui County: Maui, Moloka’i, Lana’i, and unpopulated Kaho’olawe.  As we traveled to different beaches around the island we were able to see them all!  The one in this picture is either Moloka’i or Lana’i.

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Excited to explore the rest of Maui we cut our beach time short, grabbed a surprisingly non-Hawaiian but still delightful lunch from the University of Hawaii’s culinary students, and began driving towards Haleakala National Park, centrally located on the eastern “pod” of the island.  Haleakala, meaning “house of the sun”, is the name which the early Hawaiians gave the massive volcano that formed Maui and is rooted in Hawaiian mythology.  This beast of a mountain may be dormant, but she is still impressive with a summit at 10,023 feet and a crater that is 7 miles wide and nearly 26,000 feet deep—plus an abundance of Nene (Hawaiian geese) to boot!

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We arrived at Haleakala’s Hosmer Grove campground just in time to set up for what we’d planned to be a three night stent.  However, the campsite was a good ways up the mountain and we were a good bit under prepared for the cool temperature that the high altitude had to offer.  These poor Ramblin’ Bauers didn’t sleep a wink as we fought to make it through a 29 degree night with just our sleeping bag liners.  This is what happens when you wing it, folks.  So, don’t drive up a mountain and expect to camp, even in Hawaii where every other camp site was too hot for the above mentioned bag liners, without consulting a few references.  Lucky for us, flying directly from Hawaii to Alaska meant that we had warm and fluffy snow gear in the trunk; which we promptly donned. 

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Around 2:30 am we decided that we’d had enough and no longer cared if we woke up the other campers in our need for heat.  So we did the snow-clothed mummy walk to our car and drove to the summit for sunrise.  Now, I know what you’re thinking:  “The sun doesn’t rise at 2:30 am!”  Well, you are right.  That didn’t stop us from sitting all alone in the summit parking lot with the heater blasting and an alarm set for 5 am.  When the alarm went off, we were surprised to find the parking lot packed and blanket laden tourists gathered together at the overlook.  Groggily we grabbed the camera and joined the huddle just in time to see the sun begin to peek over the clouds that covered the valley below.  It was phenomenal…one of the most amazing sites either of us had ever seen…to be above the cloud line looking down upon the sunrise.  


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After our chilly night on Haleakala, we decided to head not only towards civilization, but towards the resorts!  As a matter of fact, at around 2:00 that morning, Bilbo booked the Royal Lahaina for the rest of our time on Maui!  So, we headed back down the mountain and soon found ourselves looking at it in the rearview mirror.

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Ahead of us lay a row of resorts (on of which was the Fairmont), manicured golf courses, and resort style beaches.  We weren’t quite ready to call it a day—it wasn’t even noon yet—and decided to sleep on the beach instead of at the hotel.

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Here we are at one of the beaches along the south coast, I think it’s Makena Beach.  There’s another of the Maui County islands behind us, our guess was Kaho’olawe. 

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A few hours of sun bathing (with proper and frequent application of sun screen) found us feeling refreshed and ready to try our hand at snorkeling.  We drove a bit down the road to another of the south coast beaches, Ahihi Keaneu Reserve I believe, where quite a few holiday snorkelers were already in the water.  Snorkeling was a cinch to get the hang of and we were soon swimming over a coral reef with bright tropical fish.  It was a blast!

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I’m sure you can imagine how tired, filthy, and hungry we were beginning to feel after a sleepless night at our chilly campground and a day playing on the beaches.  That’s why we decided it was time to throw in the fins and check into the Royal Lahaina Resort.  Bilbo absolutely loved the man at the gate who said, “Welcome to your home!”  every time we drove through.  That wasn’t the end of the luxury, either! 

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When we drove up, we expected to be checking into a room in the main resort building but the bellhop loaded our luggage and us into a golf cart and drove us to a beach front villa complete with back deck!  We really enjoyed the landscaping and lushness all around us and the beach access was amazing!  We decided right then and there that our next visit to Hawaii will involve nothing but resort-style living! 

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After a shower, a change of clothes, and a fresh coat of nail polish (for me at least), we were off to the Aloha Mixed Plate to consume a very large and very authentic Hawaiian meal.  In island style we began our evening with a $3 mai tai, the unofficial drink of Hawaii, and I discovered a new favorite beverage on Earth. 

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For dinner Bilbo had the coconut prawns, a modern Hawaiian favorite, and I had the more traditional Ali’i plate. 

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My Ali’i plate, which Bilbo had to help me with, consisted of lau lau (pork wrapped in taro leaf—that’s the blackened leaf), Kalua pig (remember, that’s the pork cooked in the covered coal pit) and cabbage, lomi lomi salmon (fresh tomato and salmon salad), poi (ground taro paste), and haupia (almost like coconut milk jello).  Both of our meals came with macaroni salad and two scoops of rice, but the main items stole the show!  My favorite part, besides the mai tai, was the lau lau and Bilbo adored the lomi lomi salmon.  Everything was amazing, though, and picking favorites was really quite frivolous. 

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Playing hard all day and full bellies led us to a very very good night’s sleep and we awoke ready to seize the day.  Our agenda included returning to Haleakala National Park and hiking along the Sliding Sands Trail from the summit (the black box below that says “You are here”) into the crater’s base and back—about 10 miles round trip. 

  
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Here’s the amazing view into the crater from the summit.  The landscape was not formed sporadically by an explosion, but slowly and methodically by erosion.  The small mounds within are cinder cones, a cylindrical pile of volcanic debris that has formed around a volcanic vent, and the trail meanders through them. 

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Shew!  Good thing we got started before all of these horses.  That could have been messy!

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This way, please…

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The trail was a worn section through the sands, dusty and barren, but hauntingly beautiful. 

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For the first third of our hike this was our view.  Gorgeous, isn’t it.  For the first three miles, we had it all to ourselves. 

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Here is a closer look at the cinder cone in the lower left hand corner.  Later, on our way back to the summit, we’ll take that trail out to its rim.  For now, we’ll keep trucking on. 

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Getting closer to the bottom…and what’s that ahead?  It’s a patch of silver sword, a plant that is only found on Maui, in Haleakala National Park. 


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Despite being there at the wrong time, we were lucky enough to see one in bloom! 

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Getting closer, yet!  It’s just over that far knoll.

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Finally, there it is—the bottom of the crater!  So vast, so barren, so eerily isolated, so silent for a once deadly volcano.   

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Before heading back up we stopped on a rock to eat granola and marvel at our surroundings.  This bird (not a nene) and his companions thought it was their lunch too. Wrong, Mr. Sideburn Bird.  Wrong.

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Remember the cinder cone I said we’d visit?  Well, after a bit of confusion by this sign we finally figured out where the trail split off towards the cone’s rim. 

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About this time, the fog began to roll in and cover the cinder cone, giving it a smoky look. 

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It was all up hill from there.  Lucky for us, walking through the clouds blocked the sun’s heat and provided us with a refreshing mist.  It was kind of like those misters at amusement parks, but better.

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A fellow hiker pointed out this rare flower, which is only found in Haleakala and is very briefly in bloom. 

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Cheesy victory pictures to commemorate our hike.  At this point, I had no idea how badly my neck had been sun burnt—despite the multiple applications of sun screen that I must have just sweat off.  It’s been over a month and my neck is still healing.

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That evening we returned to that Aloha Mixed Plate, a bit later this time.  Our lesson learned from the night before, we shared a Ali’i plate while watching the sun set over the bay.  This time we were there for the lighting of the tiki torches!  Ah, the small joys.

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The next morning brought about our last day on Maui.  On our way to the Kahului Airport, we stopped for a nice stroll and some bird watching at the Kealia Coastal Boardwalk.  The boardwalk extends over a lake which swells and dries depending upon the rainfall and season and that serves as a favorite sanctuary for Maui’s birds. 

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There’s something in the tree…

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The birds below are ae’o, an endangered Hawaiian bird that has the largest leg to body ratio of any bird on Earth.

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Next up was lunch at the fisherman’s dock.  Bilbo had fresh poke (sushi) and I had ahi katsu (fried ahi) right out of the water. 

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As our week on Maui ended, we watched kite surfers performing tricks in the wind.  The back drop in these pictures is the Iao Valley, where our Maui adventures began.  Do you remember that? 

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And so things had come full circle, or full island.  Satisfied with our Maui experience, we turned in our rented Nissan and boarded our flight to Big Island for another week in tropical paradise!  Next time, we’ll tell you about a lot of hiking, a luau, and everything in between.  Aloha!