The island of Maui

Although we live in California with the year-round summer weather, Hawaii beckons us with its tropical climate to enjoy the sparkling waters of the Pacific Ocean teeming with colorful marine life. The lush green forests, home to birds of vivid colors are similarly alluring, arousing our curiosity to learn more about the world we live in that we simply do not seem to know enough about.
Of all the islands of Hawaii, Maui is a tourists’ favorite because it seems to be of the right size to be covered in four to five days, has a good mix of activities for different kinds of visitors – a seasoned traveler looking for an off-beat trip, someone who wants to drive around, take in the views and go to some interesting spots or someone who wants a break from daily life and just relax at a beach all day. We tried to be all of these on different days on our trip to Maui recently.
Having visited the island previously about three years ago, I thought I knew exactly what we should be doing. I had already done all the “research” a few years ago and only made some tweaks to the itinerary to optimize the drive times to different destinations and to use our days as efficiently as possible to visit every nook and corner of the island. When would I ever learn that searching for the best of any place on the internet and planning a trip around that was probably helping me see only one perspective!
Another reason I like Maui is that the Haleakala crater, located on the summit of the volcano of the same name is here. The crater, at more than 10000 feet above sea level is a sight to behold with its otherworldly, beautiful terrain. Unlike a usual ‘volcanic crater’, this is not formed by an eruption but by erosion from wind and rain. It was then filled with lava flows and cinder cones from volcanic eruption. At that elevation, the summit rises above the clouds and is a spot to view magical sunrises and sunsets.

On the day that we landed in Maui, we drove to our stay in Kula, the town that is the closest to the Haleakala national park. We stayed at a beautiful house that made us wonder if we should have chosen to be there throughout our trip. It had a patio facing the western part of the island with a view of the mountains and the coast. Since sunset is much earlier in Hawaii, we waited until then despite the jet lag and hit the bed soon after.

We planned to be at the Haleakala summit before sunrise so that we could spend some time stargazing which meant we were up and about before 3 AM local time. The night sky looked unbelievably clear as we stepped outside. Imagine living in a place where all you have to do is step into your patio to view the milky way. We would be driving higher up closer to the sky in an hour or so and might get a better look at the stars. I later learnt that the island regulates the use of artificial lights to preserve the dark skies for the wildlife. We made it to the summit in time for the view but the twilight started appearing as we tried to delve deeper. Perhaps we should have woken up a half hour earlier. Maui is named so after the trickster demigod, who captured the sun to create longer days, giving Haleakala its name which means the house of the sun. This is a legend I would hesitate to question as time certainly seemed to slow down as we gazed at the sky, wonderstruck, capturing pictures of the clouds as the light turned brighter, finally making way for the sun to rise above the clouds The traditional Hawaiian chants that we could hear from another location further below us made the experience feel ethereal. We jumped back in the car immediately to warm ourselves up. Our gloves seemed futile in keeping our hands from turning cold and prickly.

Our activity for the day was to hike into the Haleakala crater. We chose a trail named the sliding sands trail. It is a long trail of about 18 miles but we decided to hike as much as we could in reasonable time and return as we had other plans. We hiked through the clouds and through varying landscapes for about four miles to reach the floor of the crater. The flora surprised us with its variety in parts that seemed like a desert that was left over from burns. We had also spent ample amount of time watching a group of birds that we thought were Nene, a kind of Goose endemic to Hawaii. We were fooled by the Chukar partridge, a bird introduced to the island for hunting. We made up for some of that embarrassment on our next hike in Hosmer’s grove. We spotted quite a few of the endangered, red and green colored birds on the trail thanks to the lady at the visitor center who told us about the trail because we picked up a book about the birds of the island. There were binoculars installed on the trail that were free to use which we hijacked for a while. I flipped through the pages of the book on our drive leaving the park to learn that those birds were to be found only in this ecosystem – rainforests at an elevation of 3000 feet and above.

 We spent the rest of the day driving to the town of Hana in the south east of the island. The road to Hana is a narrow, winding road taking us through beautiful tropical rainforests interspersed with coastal scenery as well as occasional turns accommodating shops selling banana bread, tender coconut and the like. While we were in awe of the nature, it was frustrating to encounter locals who try and (successfully) intimidate tourists with their fast and rash driving. They have a rule on the road – “let locals pass” but they try to get to you before you have a chance to follow the rule. When driving on an unfamiliar and precarious road, the last thing you want is someone tailing you with what seems like unwavering determination to push you out of the way. This is something Hawaiians as well as the natives in many beautiful lands are conflicted about. They need the money that the tourists bring but would love for it to be on their own terms. The best we, as tourists, could do is to follow the rules of the land and be respectful. I cannot remember a time when I did that and still felt regret in having chosen to visit.

 However, the gracious welcome at our stay in Hana put our mind at ease. The view of the ocean from the patio of our room also helped. We freshened up and walked to the red sand beach nearby. It is one of those secluded beaches that requires some effort to get to, guaranteed to never be crowded as a result. We stood with our feet in the cold water that helped ease some pain and soreness from the hike in the morning. Although not crowded, we were not very happy with the limited choice in a place to sit on the beach and decided to return to our room. Moreover, we had had an unusually long day. We were looking forward to stocking ourselves up with all the delicious banana bread and pineapple-coconut bread that we treated ourselves to on the drive, to last us till the end of our stay.