Day 43 - From 0 to 10'000 feet

25.12.16

Hawaii, Maui Sands, Sunday, December 25th, 04:10 am, 0 feet. The alarm clock rings - this is not a joke. No, today we are going to altitude training on Haleakalā. We are probably some of the first 'Amis' to experience Christmas morning.

20 minutes later we are already in the car - today Freddy is a spaceship that flies us to the moon. No 'lazy' here! The journey takes about 1.5 hours until we arrive at the entrance to Haleakalā National Park. Like many places in the USA, you have to pay a fee to enter. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who want to experience the sunrise on Haleakalā on December 25th. After standing in line for about 25 minutes (even though there were only about 30 cars ahead of us), the ranger explains that we cannot drive all the way to the top, but have to park further down and miss the sunrise. The reason is that the parking spaces higher up are already occupied. Reluctantly, we still pay the $20 (with a credit card, as you cannot pay in cash?!?) and finally enter the park.

15 minutes later and 600 meters higher, we have to park the car in the middle of the road and continue on foot. But before we start walking, we put on our winter clothes. Yes, you heard me right: long pants, jackets, scarves, gloves, and caps, because it's around 8°C and there is an icy wind blowing at speeds of 80 km/h. We follow the other arrivals and walk for 5 minutes to the ridge. And behold, the ranger was wrong, we arrive at the exact minute of the sunrise (06:59 am) and what a sight it is. The sun rises from the horizon, dazzling us with its full force. So getting up early was worth it after all - whew.

The only downside is that it's freezing cold, and after 20 minutes in the wind, we are freezing. Side note: There were also Asians wearing shorts and t-shirts, hmmmm... We return to the car and are now allowed to drive to the summit, as some cars are already headed back home. At the top, at an altitude of 3,055 m/10,023 ft, it's still incredibly cold and windy. However, we enjoy the view of Maui Island, the volcanic crater, and the peaks of the neighboring island, Big Island. By the way, there is also a space observation center up here.

After a few minutes, our stomachs start rumbling, as we left without breakfast, so we retreat to the car and eat there. Now we want to move a little more and decide to take a short hike into the crater of 'the world's largest dormant volcano'. The crater is 12 km wide, 4 km long, and 914 m deep. On the first couple of hundred meters downhill, we fight against strong headwind, well at least this will benefit us on the way back up... A little further down, the wind is much weaker, but it is slightly foggy and moist due to the clouds. Luckily, the sun keeps breaking through and warming us up. After a little over an hour and a detour to the small Ka Lu'u o ka 'Ō'ō crater, we turn back.

At 11 am, we are back at the car and drive the 3,000 meters/10,000 feet down to the sea. Once we reach the flatlands, it's 28°C again, and we decide to take a swim at Mokapu Beach.

At 4 pm, we return to the condo and enjoy an aperitif on the beach with a sunset, before we indulge in our Christmas dinner (party fillet) and then fall into bed, pretty tired.

PS: Today, we sympathized with you and the cold in Switzerland;-)

Photo of the day: average sign jungle in the USA