House Of The Sun

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Today we made the drive up to the top of Haleakala. It was a perfect day for it. There weren't even the normal clouds around the mountain. As a matter of fact, it was quite warm for this elevation...59 degrees. Normally it's in the 30's or 40's. From the floor of the ocean, the total height of Haleakala is over 29,000 ft, which would make it taller than Mt. Everest.

Haleakala is the dormant volcano that comprises all of the largest section of the island of Maui. It is humongous, rising to just over 10,000 ft above sea level. It's a pretty long drive up to the summit from sea level at the base, something like 38 miles. Climbing 10,000 ft from sea level requires a lot of twists and turns, but this is much easier than the road to Hana. The road is a full two lanes wide and even has some guardrails and painted lines in the road.



We went all the way to the summit where there are a couple observatories. The view is phenomenal. You an see Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island over 80 miles away. It's perfect there with very little air or light pollution.



Since it is Valentine's Day, we wanted to have dinner at a nice restaurant. All the way down Haleakala, Jan called all of the top ten rated restaurants. They were all booked. Kinda late to get a reservation for dinner on Valentine's Day at 3:00 PM. One of the top ten, the Plantation House at Kapalua Golf Resort told her that we could go to the bar and see if they could get us in. Well, we ended up eating in the lounge and it was just as nice as the dining area, so we lucked out. Very nice and great food.

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Photos

Haleakala Crater
The mounds inside the crater are called cinder cones.

Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa
Volcanoes across the ocean on the island of Hawaii.

Valentine Dinner
At the Plantation House on Kapalua Golf Resort.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Haleakala
We rode bikes down from the top. It was fun. Loved sunrise.

[Jan Kribs]

Above the clouds!
This was my second trip up to Haleakala National Park. To be above the clouds ( and not in an airplane) is so very awesome! Our first time was to witness the sunrise, which is unbelievable, this time we were able to hike and see even more.