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A first-ever trip to Hawaii. My expectations are high, but the islands exceeded my wildest dreams. The islands are stunning, spectacular, magical, incredible. Maureen and I will return soon.

Hawaiian Islands, part 2

Domz
2004-04-06 18:54:16

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Maui

Our first destination on Maui, very early in the morning, is the Haleakala Crater, which sits atop a large mountain on Maui. On our ascent up the road leading to the summit (and our horseback ride trail head), we notice hundreds and hundreds of group-led families riding down on earth cruiser bicycles.

This ride is famous. It starts at the summit at the crack of dawn, and bicyclists are able to descend several miles—all downhill—without need for pedaling. We are told that the ride is better than the famous "Road to Hana," but after seeing it, I must disagree. The ride group requires one to dress in geeky, dayglow uniforms, wear bulky motorcycle helmets, and ride a low-performance bicycle passively down the road. While the views and ability to ride a long way without pedaling must be pleasant, we find the Road to Hana adventure to be extremely enjoyable—undoubtedly more so than these swarms of ride groups.

But I digress. Our adventure today is the well-known, highly-touted Haleakala Crater all-day horseback ride with PonyExpress Tours. The ride takes us 2.5 hours to cross most of the crater floor, and another 2 hours to return. The crater is formed, surprisingly, by wind erosion, not volcanic action. The colors—reds, blacks, greens, greys, browns—and formations appeared very surrealistic within the crater (see photo above). The sands within the crater are very loose, giving one of the trails the name "Sliding Sands." Inside, the crater is cold, utterly arid, and dusty. It is immense in size.

The experience makes us feel like we are "on top of the world," since, at 10,000 feet of elevation at the summit trail head, we are above much of the cloud cover in this part of Maui. In fact, on our ride back, we gallup through clouds passing through, and it seemed like we are passing through a blizzard or forest fire.

The last eruption for this volcano was over 10,000 years ...