Haleakalā
March 2023 | Park 27
Part + Park 1 (of 2) on our fifth anniversary trip.
Haleakalā National Park
One of the most memorable moments on this trip came our first morning. We woke at 5am and left the Hosmer Grove Campground to and join a trickle of cars that turned into a trickle of headlamps bobbing up to the summit of Haleakalā — the name of both the mountain and the national park. The park ranger on site that morning was a Native Hawaiian man who greeted the small group of early morning arrivals with a reminder of the spiritual significance of this place, a place that is still used for ceremony by Native Hawaiians. He told us about a particular traditional song that is sung to welcome the light at the very moment the sun’s rays beam across the sky. Voices were kept low, the air was crisp and foggy with our breath, the sky slowly lightened as the sun approached the fluffy blanket of clouds spread across the horizon beneath us.
In one quiet instant, the light broke through. The park ranger immediately began to sing the song he’d told us about when we arrived. Tears trickled down my cheeks then — and are now as I remember the piercing quality and beauty of this moment.
We’ve reflected many times since how that experience set the framework for the rest of our time on the islands. No matter what you’ve read and learned before a trip, the embodied experiences you can have when you’re really there — feeling the cold mountain air, feeling the sun’s warmth touching your face, feeling yourself pierced to the core by a sacred song — can be transformative.
We walked, hiked, camped, swam, and kayaked softer on the earth and the water with these early morning moments alight and alive within us.
Pictured below:
10,023 ft summit of Haleakalā, the “House of the Sun.”
Hike down into the crater.
Wai‘ānapanapa State Park.
Wai‘ānapanapa State Park
We reached this gorgeous state park after traveling the famous Road to Hana—equal parts heavenly and harrowing with over 600 turns to navigate in about fifty miles. James’s top highlight was the banana bread stands scattered every few miles; I’m still dreaming of the matcha mint coconut ice cream I got at Coconut Glen’s, a quirky food truck perched around one of the hairpin turns.
I’m fairly sure I could look at this exact combination of greens, blues, volcanic black and foamy white every day and never tire of it. We hiked along the top of these volcanic cliffs for a few miles, joined for several of them by migrating humpback whales who swam and breathed on a parallel track just beneath us. (Hiking with whales? This is young Emily’s wildest dreams come true.)
Also of note: Thai food in Hana is unbelievably delicious.
