Wailea, Maui

We spent the last 4 days of our trip in Wailea, Maui. The beaches are great here and the condos and houses are amazing. Wailea reminded us a lot of Arizona since it is climate is very warm and dry.

The view from the lanai at our condo in Wailea. We stayed in Ekahi Village in Wailea. The trade winds were really going this day. You can see the wind in the coconut trees in the distance.
Angie and Scott hanging out with the locals at Ulupalakua Ranch
Wailea Sunset. This was at the beach near our condo.
2 exposure blend, 1/20 sec and 1/2 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer.
Green Sea Turtle at the Maui Ocean Center
Angie and Scott at the Maui Ocean Center.
Wailea Sunset - Another one from the beach near the condo.
1 sec at f/22, ISO 100, polarizer, 3 stop reverse graduated neutral density filter
Maui Taco on the beach in Wailea. Their fish tacos are amazing. We went there two days in a row for lunch. You wouldn't think Maui would be the best place for Mexican food, but Maui Taco is actually quite good.
Plumeria flowers.
Scott and Angie on the beach in Wailea.
Coral and Waves - 1/4 sec at f/11, ISO 100
Wailea Sunset
1/2 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer, 3 stop reverse GND filter
Scott and Angie on the beach in Wailea on our last night in Maui.
Wailea was our last stop on Maui before we headed back home. We really enjoyed our trip and can't wait to get back to Hawaii.

Hana, Maui

We spent 3 days 2 nights in Hana during our trip around the island of Maui. Hana was one of the most relaxing places we have ever visited. The local people here a so laid back it is almost ridiculous. Its an excellent place to unwind and get away from it all.

The beach at Hana Bay.
Sea shells
Angie outside our condo in Hana. We stayed at Hana Kai which was a very cool place.
Ocean view from inside the condo.
Sunrise view from the lanai at the condo. Scott is down on the rocks photographing the sunrise.
Hana Sunrise.
2 exposure blend. 1/3 sec and 3 sec at f/22 ISO 100, polarizer.
Waves and Rocks
1 sec at f/11, ISO 100, polarizer
Black Sand Beach near Hana
1/4 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer.
Pools of Oheo, Haleakala National Park, Coastal Area
2 exposure blend, 1/30 sec and 1/4 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer
Scott and Angie at the Pools of Oheo
Hana Sunrise - Black and White
1/8 sec at f/16, ISO 200
Red Sand Beach
Heart shaped coral on red sand
1/3 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer
Another heart shaped coral on red sand.
1/6 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer
Scott and Angie at Red Sand Beach

Road to Hana

We drove the road to Hana after we left Paia. This was an amazing drive through the rain forests of Maui. The road had numerous 1 way bridges and hairpin turns. The total drive time was about 3.5 hours including several stops along the way.

Rainbow Eucalyptus Grove. These trees are very unique due to the rainbow colors found on the bark of the trees.
Scott and Angie

Lots of cows grazing along the road.
One of the many waterfalls along the way.
Scott at one of the overlooks above the ocean.

Paia, Maui

We spent 2 days in Paia, Maui after our backpack in the Haleakala Crater. Paia means "noisy" in Hawaiian and the town is referred to as Maui's Coolest Little Town. We liked Paia because it is quite different from the big resort towns in Hawaii. There are lots of interesting people that live here. It's like a windsurfer/hippie colony. Lots of great food and interesting shops.

Angie on the beach in Paia.
Interesting mural on an old structure on the beach. We believe these were structures from the old Paia Sugar Mill.
Relaxing on the beach.
Scott photographing the sunset.
Nikon D80, 1.8 sec at f/22, ISO 100, 3 stop soft GND filter.
Nikon D80, 1.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100, 3 stop soft GND filter.
Angie outside our hotel in Paia. We stayed at the Paia Inn which was one of the coolest hotels we have ever stayed in. The hotel is in the middle of downtown Paia above the shops on the street. Everything you need is within walking distance (beach/food/shopping).

Haleakala National Park Backpack

Angie and I backpacked from April 11-13th at Haleakala National Park in Maui, Hawaii. Haleakala is a dormant volcano located in southeastern Maui. The crater area is a drastically different from the beaches and tropical climate found in the lower elevations of the Hawaiian islands. This was a very unique backpacking experience due to the extreme variations in the terrain. The crater has everything from lush rain forests to desolate areas of volcanic cinders. The Haleakala crater offers one of the few multi-day backpacks on Maui. We did this backpack over 3 days and covered 20.6 miles.

Sunday, April 11

Our flight from Portland arrived in Maui at ~1100 AM on Sunday. We picked up our rental car then headed to the Sports Authority Store in Kahului to buy a MSR backpacking stove and fuel. We ended up buying a stove, since we couldn't find anywhere to rent one on Maui! Our next stop was in Paia to drop off our luggage at the hotel. We then set off for the Haleakala Park Headquarters to get our wilderness camping permits. The permits are free and are issued on a first come/first severed basis after watching a 10 minute orientation video at the ranger station. There are 25 permits available for each backcountry campsite at Holua and Paliku. There are also backcountry cabins available at Holua, Paliku and Kapalaoa which can be rented from the NPS. Click here for more information about cabin rentals. For more information about backcountry camping/backpacking visit the NPS website here. There is water available at both campsites, but the water should be filtered, treated or boiled before drinking.

After obtaining our permits we drove up to the Halemau'u Trailhead at 7990 feet above sea level. The temperature at the trailhead was a comfortable 65 degrees F. Our destination was the Holua backcountry campsite which was located 3.7 miles and ~1000 feet below. We set off at ~3:30 PM hoping to make it to Holua by dark. The first mile of the trail wanders through native shrubland and some very rough volcanic rock on the outer slopes of the volcano. As the trail approaches the rim of the crater, the first views into Haleakala appear.

Scott near the crater rim.
Angie.From here the trail makes several switchbacks as it winds down to the crater floor. It was difficult to get good footing as we descended, since the trail was covered with small rocks which always seemed to slip out from beneath our feet. We were glad to have our trekking poles, but wished we had our hiking boots. We did this backpack in trail shoes, but in hindsight we should have worn our boots to protect our feet from the tough volcanic rock. We passed a few day hikers ascending the trail back to the trailhead.

We arrived at Holua with plenty of time to spare before dark. There was only one other backpacker camping at Holua. We ate our dinner and watched the sunset from our campsite. Shorty after sunset the ua'u (Hawaiian Petrel) birds began returning to their nests after spending the day out at sea. Ua'u are medium sized gray and white seabirds which are unique to the Hawaiian Islands. The birds usually leave by sunrise unless caring for an egg. It's incredible that these birds come all the way from the ocean to the crater to reach their nests. Listening to the calls of hundreds of ua'u in the dark was a very cool experience.

Once the twilight faded, the stars came out and were absolutely stunning. There is something to be said about the stars in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a moonless night! Once it got dark the temperature quickly dropped into the mid 30s.

Here are a few night photos from the Nikon D80.

25 second exposure at f/1.8, ISO 400, Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 lens
Photoshop blend of 2 exposures of ~30mins each at f/4.0, ISO 100, Nikkor 12-24 dx lens. The first exposure was started during twilight to pick up some of the magenta color in the sky.

Monday, April 12

The following morning we got up early for sunrise (~6AM) and caught a pretty good sunrise with the misty clouds spilling over the crater wall.

Scott's camera/tripod tipped over on the rock in the foreground in the photo below and demolished the polarizer. Luckily minimal damage was done to the actual lens! Not the best way to start the morning, but at least the photo looks good!

Photoshop blend of 2 exposures, 1/30 sec and 1/4 sec at f/16, ISO 400.
After eating breakfast, we broke camp and started heading to the Paliku backcountry campsite which is located 6.6 miles down the Halemau'u/Sliding Sands Trails. After hiking for about a mile we entered the middle of the crater where there is very little vegetation, but lots of volcanic rock/sand/cinders. The cinders are up to 3000 feet deep in this area. The rain that falls here quickly percolates down through the cinders and doesn't leave much water near the surface for plants to grow.

Angie hiking across the crater. Looks like it could be the moon or Mars!
Looking up the crater walls to near the summit area.
Halemau'u Trail.
Pele's Paint Pot. The colors here are due to the minerals which are present in the volcanic rock. The camera doesn't really capture the full range of colors seen here.
Another photo of Angie crossing the volcanic plains.
Kawilinau, aka the bottomless pit. This vent is ~65 feet deep and was created by super heated gases which blasted though the crater floor.After hiking 6.6 hard miles across the crater floor we arrived at the Paliku backcountry campsite. Our feet were very sore from walking over the volcanic rock. We only saw one other backpacker at Paliku.

Paliku gets ~200 inches of rain a year and is very green and lush. As expected, there were intermittent showers all afternoon. The cool thing about the showers is that every half hour there would be a new rainbow.

There is a pasture area near Paliku for all of the stock animals which bring riders into Paliku. Here is a photo of Angie trying to sweet talk the burro into giving here a free ride out of the crater....it didn't work!
We spent most of the afternoon exploring around Paliku and ventured part of the way up the Lau'ulu trail. This trail was park hike, part rock climb and was pretty crazy. We also saw a pair of nene (native hawaiian geese) which loved to eat the grass near our tent. Although the nene are endangered, it is fairly common to see them in the park. They are notorious beggars, but should never be fed by backpackers/hikers, since they have plenty of natural food available.

Tuesday, April 13

The following morning at Paliku was very pleasant, because we didn't have much rain. It had rained most of the night, but we were nice and dry inside the tent. Our plan that morning was to hike back to Holua and camp there for one more night before hiking back out the trailhead the following morning.

Paliku backcountry cabin.

Scott and Angie at Paliku with the Kaupo gap behind. The Kaupo gap has been formed by millions of years of erosion to the crater wall by the constant rains in the area. The rains are created by the warm ocean air cooling and condensing as it rises up the side of the volcano.
Interesting lava formation near the trail in the Paliku area.
Angie on the trail...note clouds beginning to form...more on this in a bit!
Scott at the junction of the Halemau'u and Sliding Sands Trails.
One of the few bird shots we got. This is a chuckar. These birds love to hang out in the bushes on the sides of the trail. As you walk by they blast out of the bushes making their chuck-chuck-chuckar-chuckar calls.
Angie on the trail again.
When we reached the middle of the crater on the way to Holua, the weather changed abruptly. The wind picked up and it started to rain. Here you can see the rain starting to fall...not good!
Angie hiking in the rain.
On our way Holua, we stopped by the Silversword Loop Trail for a few pictures. The silversword is a very unique plant which is only found inside Haleakala crater. The plant is a relative of the sunflower, but looks very similar to the yucca and century plants found in the southwestern U.S. deserts. The plants were not blooming that is time, (usually bloom May-October) but the silver color of the plants was amazing.

Shortly after the silversword loop trail, the wind picked up even more and started blowing the rain horizontally. We were starting to get quite wet, since the rain was finding a way around our rain gear. By the time we reached Holua, the rain/wind had not let up one bit, so we decided to press all the way out to the trailhead to avoid spending a cold night in the tent. This would make for a 10.3 mile day, but we were both ready get to the beach!

A view of the Halemau'u Trail switch backing up the crater wall. This trail was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
A small landslide on the trail. The constant rain had saturated the soil.
Angie on the Halemau'u trail near the trailhead. The trail was literally a stream, and our feet were completely soaked. This area was dry on our way down.
Despite getting rained out, we really enjoyed this backpack. Camping inside a dormant volcano is something very few people get to experience. The Haleakala crater is a unique area with some absolutely stunning scenery and stars. If you are considering a backpack here, make sure you bring your hiking boots. Your feet will appreciate it. Feel free to post any questions you have about the backpack in the comments area and I will try my best to answer them.

Aloha and Mahalo, Scott & Angie

Recommended reading;
NPS Haleakala website
"Hiking Maui, The Valley Isle" by Robert Smith
"Maui Trails" by Kathy Morey