Today’s adventure was to Haleakala National Park, with a top altitude of 10,023 feet. That is quite a climb when you think that we started from the ocean, practically at sea level, to climb up 10k feet through many winding hairpin turns. I must say the road is in excellent condition.
We went in and out of the various low-lying cloud layers. Sometimes, we were in heavy mist, and it was like rain and other times, blazing sun.
We made our way up to the volcano crater and took a short walk to look down and see the magnificent sight. Unfortunately, it was completely socked in, even though we had waited around and ate the lunch that we had brought.
Still, the volcanoes in Hawaii are not the typical ones where the top explodes off and the lava comes spouting out. Think Mount St. Helen’s. It’s more of a result of slow leaking from the lava bed deep below when the tectonic plates shift. This causes the lava to flow slowly and spread out.
Haleakala National Park
We made our way down the mountain and ventured south further into the “upcountry” to visit the Maui Winery.
It seemed like the middle of nowhere and had this amazing tasting centre packed when we arrived, we had to wait 20 minutes, but it was part of the adventure. We sampled six different wines that they made. In Louise’s words… Nothing to write home about.
However, it was worthwhile because they make sparkling and dry pineapple wine. I liked the dry pineapple one; it had a strong aroma but only a mild taste of pineapple.
We returned to our little town of Paia, a great tourist center, just around dusk. We weren’t hungry, but we did have ice cream and checked out the store windows before driving to pack for tomorrow’s trip to Honolulu.
In case you missed it, check out our Road to Hana adventures.