Camping at Haleakala National Park

 Haleakala National Park

Haleakala is known as one of those "epic" hiking treks in the state of Hawaii. It is said to be an awesome backpacking experience by many hikers in the Oahu hiking community. To plan a trip to Haleakala takes extensive research and planning. 

In Hawaiian Mythology, Haleakala is the place where demi-god Maui resided. Maui was considered a prankster and loved to play jokes on others. One day he had a complaint from his mother, goddess Hina who said that her kapa didn't dry because the sun moved too fast across the sky. To solve this problem Maui ran up to the summit of Haleakala, lassoed the sun and moved it around the horizon slowly, so Hina's kapa would dry. It is said that Haleakala gets at least 15 minutes more sunlight in the summer than any other place in the state of Hawaii. 

I digress, Ed usually goes to Haleakala once a year and asked me if I wanted to go this year. Ed claimed that this would be his 20th time. For me I jumped at the opportunity. Because Ed had so much experience, it was a no brainer, especially to learn the nuances of backpacking. Ed is an English Teacher and the advisor for the Pearl City HIgh School Hiking Club. I did some service projects with the hiking club and the idea of going to Haleakala came about from those conversations. Joining us on the Haleakala trip were Anthony Pearl City High School Science Teacher and co-advisor for the Pearl City High School Hiking Club, Damian a Science Teacher at Pearl City, and Blaze a student who graduated this past year. 

Ed is an expert in this crater and knows it like the back of his hand. He doesn't need maps, he knows exactly what to bring and thought of every scenario that we may encounter in the crater. He prepared all the food, at least 15 lbs. and froze it. He reserved the cabin and rental car. All we had to do was get our flight and pack our stuff.

Sliding Sands to Kapaloa - June 25, 2014

Getting to the Haleakala visitors center is a long drive, about an hour drive from the Kahalui airport. We split the group up into two cars, we also needed the two cars for staging. On the way we seen a load of sugar cane. I was so ignorant to think that they don't grow sugar cane anymore. Once we hit the junction to go up the mountain, the air changed and it got cold. Through regular car banter, Damian said he forgot his walking stick at home. As we neared eucalyptus trees, Ed notice this huge branch on the ground, he pulled over and we sawed off a perfect walking stick for Damian. 

Damien making a walking stick

At the visitors center, we had to check in and watch a 15 minute video on National Park responsibility. After the visitors center is a 20 minute drive on a super narrow road to the Sliding Sands trailhead also known as Keonehe'ehe'e. Ed and Anthony drove 15 minutes back to the Halemau'u trailhead to stage cars, and came back to meet up with us at Sliding Sands. At this point cell phone and internet reception was non existent and would be the entire 3 days. 

orientation center

The trails on Haleakala are simple to remember. There are only 3 main trails 1) Sliding Sands 2) Halemau'u 3) Kaupo. There are 3 cabins on those trails 1) Kapaloa 2) Paliku 3) Holua. Sliding Sands and Halemau'u are the two main trails in the crater and meet up at different points. Kaupo comes up steeply from the East side of the crater and connects with the trails. The rest of the trails in the crater are side trails or connecting trails. 

The first impression of the crater is of AWE! It something you haven't really seen before. The cinder cones are huge and landscape so vast. You are in another world! Our goal today was to take the 6 mile hike to the Kapaloa Cabin. When we first started walking, I started huffing and puffing. My lungs were struggling, probably cause of the altitude. As we continued progress, my lungs improved. The Sliding Sands trail is on fine broken down volcanic rock. Although smooth and somewhat easy to walk on, it does require effort especially with 40 lbs packs. I think Ed's pack was 50 lbs because he carried all the food. The good thing is that we would be descending over 1000+ feet. The terrain changes as the smooth sand turns into volcanic rock making the ground uneven. I had problems keeping upright as my pack would create balancing problems. I did much harder hikes this summer, but carrying a heavy pack changes a persons hiking gait and posture. I didn't feel as nimble. On the way, we saw hundreds of Silversword plants, a lot of the them were in bloom. This plant is an integral part in making Haleakala so unique. It only grows here (there is a variation of the plant on the Big Island). The plant is damn beautiful with its base sprouting these leaves that resembles swords. The plant, when blooming produces hundreds of flowers and a few of the plants were almost as tall as me. At one time the silversword use to be endangered because of animal deforestation, but the plant seems to have made a comeback and is off the endangered list. There are variations of the silversword, but the one that is similar in beauty to the Maui one is the Big Island silversword. The other silversword variations don't look as nice.

sliding sands

silversword alley

Haleakala silversword

We as a group were getting tired already mainly because of the 4am wake up time this morning, plane ride, and long drive over. We made it to the cabin near 4pm and set up shop. We quickly boiled water and everyone filled up their containers and camelbaks. Ed brought chicken stir-fry for the first night and Daimen and I started cooking the rice. As we waited for everything to cook, we stepped outside and saw a bunch of Nene goose begging for food. You are not suppose to feed the Nene, but apparently someone had since they were begging. 

nene gooses

kapaloa cabin

outside the cabin

It was near nightfall when we ate. The food was so good. Too bad we didn't have alcohol. But since Blaze was underage, that wouldn't be a good idea, his parents might get mad at us. Just then a couple opened the door to our cabin and looked inside, didn't even say hi or anything. Anthony took the lead and asked them if they needed anything. The guy had poor social skills and was kinda freaky looking like he was high or something. He just looked around the cabin. Anthony decided to break the ice and ask him questions like, "do you have enough water?", "do you have a light, its gonna get dark soon?". Anthony was getting somewhat uncomfortable and ask the couple that if they wanted to get out before dark, they have to leave and start now. The couple decided to leave. After they left, we had a teacher discussion about letting them stay overnight. We reach consensus that it was not safe for us to have them stay since the guy was freaky looking. We didn't know what they were capable of. 

After that awkward event, the sun quickly set and darkness fell. It got frickin' cold. I put on my compression gear, but that didn't work. Mental note to bring pants and a thicker jacket next time. I tried to do nights shots, but it was too damn cold, so I went inside.

I was so tired and it wasn't even 9pm yet. I fell into a deep sleep. Through the night I kept on waking up, but found myself falling quickly back to sleep. Since it was a cabin full of men, there was some major snoring. It was loud, the Nene outside must have been WTF is that noise! 

Kapaloa to Paliku - June 26, 2014

I woke up at exactly 5:44am. I remember struggling to get into a deep sleep throughout the night, but had a good amount of sleep nonetheless. The fire went out sometime before 4am and I remember having to use my bivy because it was so cold. After taking a piss in the cold, the sun came out rising over the Kipahulu-Hana area. It was a beauty to behold! No doubt House of the Rising Sun. Ed was already out hiking. Damian was making breakfast for us. I got my pack ready and helped Damian made eggs and ham with rice. Ed's timing was impeccable as he came back when breakfast was almost cooked. Everyone ate so much as the rule of the national park is you pack out what you pack in, and that includes food. 

house of the rising sun

coffee

From last nights short discussions, the plan today was to get to the Paliku cabin and possibly take a trip down the Kaupo trail. The estimated distance of the hike would be 11 miles. In my mind, it would be awesome to hike all the way down Kaupo, but knew that wasn't going to happen especially since we got the 9:30 am start time. As we got ready a guy came running. He asked to refill water. We asked him where he came from, he said he started Kaupo at 5:45 am. This meant he hiked up from Kaupo to Kapaloa in less than 4 hours. That's crazy fast! His friend joined him and they continued on Sliding Sands towards the summit. They probably did the hike in 6 hours, which is a ridiculous time. I think most hikers would do it in 10 hours.  

Damian decided to stay back and relax while Anthony, Blaze, and I went at a blistering pace on Sliding Sands towards Paliku. The landscape somewhat changed as more dry plants were abundant. After the junction where Halemau'u and Sliding Sands converge, we saw the beauty of the Big Island. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa were in our sights dominating the landscape over the clouds. It was a clear day today. We got to the Paliku Cabin in 1 1/2 hours and took a long ass break there. Just then I seen a green bird. I thought it was the rare 'akohekohe, but it wasn't. It was just an 'amakihi. According to the description on the internet, the 'amakihi can only be seen on Maui, Big Island, and Molokai. They fly all over the place from sea level to 8,000 feet. There were a lot of them in the area. Also in the area were 'apapane. The birds seem to like the guava and lehua trees. I've never seen too many native birds, only pueo's and elepaio's on previous hikes. Wish I had a zoom lens to take pictures. 

Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa

paliku cabin

amakihi

lehua tree where all the bird go

After our long break at the Paliku Cabin, we went down Kaupo. We had an action plan to turn around in 1 hour. We went down at a fast past. The trail is overgrown in some parts, but nothing like overgrown Oahu trails. The forest is native and freakin' awesome. I couldn't name really any trees until I saw a koa tree covered in lichen. That was a beautiful sight. We got to near a lookout point, but the trail went on forever. We stuck with our plan to hike down for only one hour. After the hour was up, we backtracked. Anthony led a viscous charge up hill. I was huffing and puffing, and continued to follow Blaze. He was struggling, but was moving along pretty well.

down Kaupo (p.c. Anthony)

Kaupo

Kaupo

going back up

Because of Anthony's ferocious charge, it only took us 1 hour to get back to the junction. We knew we had about 4-5 more miles back to the cabin. Instead of taking Sliding Sands back to Kapaloa, we decided to take Halemau'u until we met at a junction somewhere in the middle of the crater to take us back to Kapaloa. Anthony went ahead, while Blaze and I fell behind. We took a while and saw Anthony sleeping near the junction that would take us back to the cabin. We were tired already and hungry as hell. Damian cooked dinner which was chili and rice. There was a lot of chili and we ate and ate until there was no more. I had major kanak, but fought it to take night shots. The sky was more clearer than yesterday. There were trillions of stars. It was spectacular! I got a good picture of the milky way, but just like yesterday, I stayed out longer on this night, but again was too cold to continue and went inside to lay down. Ed was out, I think his regular bedtime is at 8pm. Anthony, Damian, and Blaze stayed outside for hours watching shooting stars. 

these cool rock formations

Anthony sleeping

horse tours in crater

milky way

I woke up at 11pm and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and threw some wood in the fire. Eventually, I went back to sleep. Just like last night everyone was snoring again. 

Kapaloa to Halemau'u - June 27, 2014

House of the Rising Sun

On our last day, our plan was to hike out of the crater via the Halemau'u trail which is about 7 miles. We had to get an early start because our flight would depart at 5:25pm. We all got up before 6am, except Anthony who likes to sleep in. Damian made breakfast which was spam fried rice and pancakes. We ate heavy again, so we wouldn't have to pack out too much food. Damian's been awesome cooking all the meals for us. Everyone was efficient as we got ourselves ready to leave. We took a group picture and off we went at 8:10am. 

group picture

Ed led the pace on a trail towards Halemau'u. The trail was black sand and hard on the muscles. We kept the pace and got to the Kawilinau, a sacred site. I only saw a 66 foot hole in the ground, that was apparently the site. We continued on towards Pele's Paint Pot. I wasn't sure if this was the spot, but it looked like it on pictures, so it must be it. We took near two hours to Holua Cabin, a pretty quick pace. From there, we thought it would save us time if Anthony and I would hike ahead up the switchbacks of Halemau'u to the car. I would drive the rental to the Sliding Sands trailhead and drop Anthony off so both he and I would head back to Halemau'u. We hiked fast. It would be 4 miles. I thought we could do it in one hour, but those switchbacks were a relentless uphill jaunt. Anthony and I pushed hard and got to the top in about 1+ hours. The view atop the switchbacks were gorgeous. About 3/4 miles from the end, we saw our cars. We were so relieved, but that was the longest 15 minute hike ever. 

Pele's Paint Pot

towards Holua Cabin

Helemau'u

After we finished, I drove Anthony to the Sliding Sands trailhead to pick up the other car. We went back to Halemau'u, cleaned up, and I took a nap. So good to have reception at this time. I notified loved ones that I was okay. About 1+ hours later, I was awakened by Ed's voice. It was about 1:45 pm. Everyone was hungry. Instead of eating healthy, we decided to drive to Kahalui Burger King. I was so stink, I think we all were. That was the best whopper I ever had. At about 2:30 pm, we could have cleaned up at Kahana Beach, but decided that Krispy Creme was much better. We bought some doughnuts at Kirspy Kreme, and then went to the car rental to drop the car off. 

All I could think of at this moment was how stink I was. I didn't even wipe myself down. Not taking a shower for 3 days was disgusting. But I figured the dirt made a layer to cover the stink I was giving off. I hoped the plane ride would be short.

What a trip! My first multi-day backpacking experience. Thanks to Ed for planning everything. It was an awesome experience. We had a great group of guys. Now back to the grind of the real world. It really did feel like another world out there in Haleakala.