FIRST MAJOR TRAINING HIKE: Haleakalā
It All Starts Here, My First Training Hike
A glorious trip to Hawaii, which has one of the United States’ tallest volcano was a perfect training ground for Africa’s tallest volcano in Mt. Kilimanjaro! Intentionally dodging the mai tais and poke bowls by the pool and positioning myself to get up to Mt. Haleakalā — sitting at 10,000 feet above sea level — I needed a training hike that was going to set the base for my endurance but also my ability to climb at higher altitude.
Hitchhiking from a lower parking area within the National Park to the sunny peak, through the clouds and atop the Mars-like peak and observation deck of Haleakalā — which translates to literally “House of the Sun” and makes up more than 75% of the island of Maui — we started our 13 mile hike at the top. (Also fun fact: it took me about 25 times to finally pronounce the mountain’s famed name, so enjoy my sad attempts in the video.)
Traversing down into the crater was tough on the knees but also on the eyes as clouds and fog didn’t give us much of a view of the sprawling crater we were descending into for our first 3 hours. After some rain and a lunch break, we made it to the bottom of the crater which looked other Earthly. Only the endangered silversword plants ('ahinahina) and a lot of various colors of red and rust covered the floor. The silverswords added cool contrast to the deep dirt and rocks, as they uniquely only thrive between 6,900 and 10,000 feet, and live for 15 to 90 years, while blooms spectacularly just once, and then they die.
Trekking across the crater then brought us new terrain, more foliage and plant life and more sunlight in patches. Between miles 6 to 9 we were starting to actually worry less about the terrain and more about the daylight available to us as we had a 1,600 foot climb back up the rim of the eastern side of the crater to finish our loop hike.
Eventually we got to the rim and the switchbacks were steep but stunning with views of nearly the last 5 miles of our trek below us with gorgeous views. After each switchback felt like it just led to another one and the trailhead felt longer and longer away, but eventually we reached the ridgeline for an absolutely stunning sunset above the clouds. The panoramic view of the plush green crater to our right and then crossing the otherside of the ridge was the entire island of Maui under the clouds. It was magical. Only about .5 miles remained before we could take off the boots and appreciate the long 7 hours of hiking. And yes, cheersing with mai tais and poke bowls as our reward. First training hike completed and successful. Many more to go before Kili!
