Haleakala National Park, Maui

As luck would have it, our visit to Maui coincided with the October 2013 16-day government shutdown, and almost prevented us from visiting the Haleakala National Park. We berated ourselves for not visiting the park when we first got here and had the chance, as each day went by and it looked like the mess in Washington D.C. would never get resolved. But finally on October 17th, the House approved a bill to raise the debt ceiling, the National Parks opened back up, and on October 19th we took the 38-mile drive to the summit within the Haleakala National Park. The tallest peak of Haleakala ("House of the Sun") is Pu'u 'Ula'ula ("Red Hill"), and towers above the clouds at 10,023 feet. The road to this summit holds the world record for climbing the highest elevation in the shortest distance, starting at sea-level and passing through five distinct climate zones along the way. Unfortunately we seemed to experience just one climate zone the day we went - cloudy! Even though we made it to the top, the clouds never cleared off enough for us to get a view of the Haleakala Crater, or the other Hawaiian Islands visible from the top on a clear day. Still, it wasn't a wasted trip. The drive up provided stunning views; we were able to see the space observatories; and we saw the rare and beautiful Silversword (ahinahina) plant, a threatened species that only grows above 6000 feet, and the only place in the world it lives is on the slopes of Haleakala. A very popular tourist activity on Maui is to be driven to the top of mountain, then provided a bicycle for an exciting downhill ride. But we were more impressed with the few cyclists we saw who were actually riding their bicycles up the hill - now that's an accomplishment! Even though our visit to the National Park wasn't all we had hoped for, we're still glad we took the time to go. Here are some pictures of our trip.