Haleakala

On our first full day on Maui we got up at 3 am to drive up to the summit of Haleakala volcano. Up and up and up a winding road we drove for about an hour. Haleakala means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian and this is where we came to see the sun rise.

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At the top it was COLD. About 40 degrees and windy. Our elevation was 9,740 feet. Almost 10,000 feet up. Did I also mention that it was about 4:30 a.m.?

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A lot of people were gathered, waiting for the sun to come up.

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Donna and Dustin and Dallas and I were among them.

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But, it was still a while before the sun would come up.

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The crater was filled with clouds.

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Haleakala is officially considered an active volcano. There have been many eruptions in the past 30,000 years, but the last one was in the 1600s.

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From the summit you look down into the crater which is 7 miles across, 2 miles wide, and 2,600 feet deep. The walls of the crater are steep and there’s not much to see inside.

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The sun was coming up in front of us.

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But the moon was still out behind us.

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Everyone was so excited and anxious to see the sun.

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Here comes the sun.. do do do doo do.

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Hawaiian folklore says that the depression at the summit of Haleakala was the home to the grandmother of Maui, a Hawaiian god. Legend says that Maui’s grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky to lengthen the day.

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It goes without saying that this is the highest point on Maui, right? Well, I said it anyway.

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Around this time it occurs to me that maybe I shouldn’t be looking directly into the sun through my camera. Everything started looking red. Like everything like Donna and Dustin and Dallas.

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Back to the sun.

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It was so gorgeous, I just kept taking photos!

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Beautiful. At almost 10,000 feet up.

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And, again, the sun is up now, but the moon is still out too.

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