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Published: September 11th 2006
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breakfast view
much better than looking at a cubicle Today we continued our morning ritual of waking up early, having Breekfast at the hotel and going to the pool. The buffet is really good with a nice atmosphere. The restaurant is open air, with all the tables facing out to a lagoon with a waterfall and Japanese-style garden. Two white and one black swan swim around, while sparrows fly in and around the restaurant, on the floor and tables, looking for food. They play soft Hawaiian music and it’s all very relaxing.
It only takes a few minutes of sitting at the pool to start roasting. The sun gets hot here fast, even at 9 or 10 a.m., with UV indexes at 10 (or more, which we didn’t know was possible) and the news was saying that the current weather pattern was keeping the trade winds away so it was more humid than usual. Josh already got burned yesterday.
Our event for the day was horseback riding on Mt. Haleakala, the dormant volcano on the island which is about 10,000 feet at its summit. Maui actually has two dormant volcanoes, each one erupted and joined together as time went on to make one island connected by a gorgeous
the waterfall
to go with your eggs and pancakes valley. Our words wouldn’t do justice to the drive through Maui on the way to the mountain. We were amazed by what we couldn’t see in the dark the other night: open fields with tall crops (sugar cane?) and huge, majestic mountains towering above the plains. They call Maui “the valley isle” for these reasons.
Haleakala Ranch is something like 10,000+ acres on the side of the mountain, all owned by one family I think. The outback where the horseback riding happens is at 4000 feet. The drive up was not as bad as I remember, but there were a couple of turns that turned my stomach a little. Nowhere near as bad as the road to Hana. I will never forget that trip when I was 17, and we sure are not doing it on this trip.
Anyway, we got to the outpost and the horses are already lined up for us. We’re the first one’s there for a change. This tiny blonde girl shows up as the tour leader and the other riders start arriving. Bree, the tour guide, started assigning horses to us, and as she unties and mounts each one, the horses kind
Hyatt pool
blue, blue everywhere of wandered around the area, munching on the grass. So, she spent a long time keeping everyone together. There were two girls, one young and one a teen, who had a little riding experience, but I think everyone else was pretty new at it.
Finally everyone got mounted and put in line to go up the trail, which was through the woods. I ended up last in line because my horse, Appy, decided she would rather eat than walk. So I started shaking the reins, putting my feet into her sides, lightly, and saying “c’mon, let’s go,” as the rest of the party started up the trail.
The trail went uphill and around a bend which was obscured by trees and bushes, and as everyone started to disappear around the bend, I was still sitting there trying to get Appy to move. Finally Bree realized I wasn’t there. “Kick her,” she yelled, so I put my heels into her harder, but Appy only moved to get to another patch of grass. Bree suggested using the lead rope to whip her with. I unwrapped it from the saddle horn and whacked her on the butt; finally she made her
way up the trail with the others. In an opening in the woods Bree broke a twig off a tree and give it to me to give Appy a little extra motivation. I felt a little bad having to do that, but Bree watched me do it once with no effect and said “aw, she probably thinks that’s a fly.”
With that out of the way, I started enjoying the trip more. The forest was dense and quiet. But the trail was actually a bit rough, rocky and uneven, with a lot of exposed tree roots below and low-hanging branches above.
We rode through the woods mostly, but eventually we came out into a large clearing. It was like a plateau or cliff, and Jackie and I had visions of our crazy horses deciding to take off over the edge. Beyond the cliff it was very misty, but you could get glimpses of the other side of the island, with its valley and green hills. This was the half-way point.
After a picture Breek we turned up a different trail back into the woods. I wish I kept the camera out to capture the magnificent tree that
appeared as we went back in. As the clearing ended there were bushes and small trees, with the larger, older trees behind them. But it was as if the forest separated a bit out of respect for this one tree. It was huge, and seemed to lean out over the others and separate at the top into two trunks that seemd to cover everything else around it. It looked like it sat in the middle of the trail, like a guardian to the rest of the woods. Up ahead, Bree was giving information about the land and the history of this part of the trail. I was too far back and too busy keeping my horse moving to retain any of it.
As we went, we would go through woods and then fields, all the while up and down steep grades. The horses could be heard exerting themselves as we climbed up the dusty trails. It was actually a little hairy at times, at least for wimpy city slickers like us. Now, the fun (and danger) of horseback riding is that these animals are just unpredictable at times. Appy would stop in the middle of a downhill grade to
Jackie the jockey
gettin' ready to hit the trail grab a face-full of grass. Meanwhile, Jackie’s horse, Ozzy, had his own quirks. They named him after Ozzy Osborne because he would “scream” if you touch his belly. And I would also guess it’s because he’s a little nuts. On the way back, Ozzy started walking next to another horse. I was ahead of Jackie at the time, but from behind me I turn to see Ozzy and the teenager’s horses with their ears back and kind of snipping at each other, and not playing well together. At least it only lasted a moment.
After that we stopped at a gate that separated the horse trail from a dirt road the ATVs would drive on. As we stopped for Bree to open the gate, I got to notice how quiet it was up there. The only sounds were occasional birds. Even the horses were still.
Contrast that with later, when we re-entered the woods near the outpost. The teenage girl was ahead of Jackie, me and the mother of the little girl who was actually leading the pack. The girl had lost her lead rope and stopped her horse. She tried to get the others’ attention, but the
trying to hang loose
atop two crazy horses didn’t hear and kept going. Eventually the mom behind me, who also seemed to have some experience with horses, came around and got the girl her rope. Everyone was far ahead at that point, so the mom started galloping her horse to catch up. Horses being pack animals, the others started running too. I remember seeing Jackie bouncing off her saddle ahead. I tried to tell her to pull back on the reins and try to push down on the stirrups, and I tried to do the same, but all I remember is the pain of being slammed onto the saddle repeatedly. Mercifully they stopped galloping after a few seconds. And at that point we were at the end of the trail. We went back to the hotel very dusty and probably smelling like horse, but it was totally worth it. I don’t know about my wife, but I’d do it again in a second.
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Aunt Wendy
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Hey Cowpokes!
You look like two naturals on the backs of your horses. Thanks for sharing the adventure of a life-time.