Chasing Ho'alohaloha Ao, 'opua

Amazing colors in the
crater of Haleakala

A Beautiful Run Across Haleakala National Park

Maui, Hawaii, August 7, 2011

I lie on my back, cool water running down my shorts, staring through a blanket of ferns, moss, and twisted tree roots painted the greenest of greens; dark slick rocks serving as a temporary bed on an insanely steep slope that could be described just as well as a jungle cliff-face as it could a "trail." I had actually slipped and fallen on my butt, and was listening for Matt or Ryan's voices. But, I paused there for a minute, grinning. Only in paradise can the act of falling on one's butt be so joyful. Alright, time to get up and chase that cloud.

Haleakala National Park Trail Map

New Friends
I may be exaggerating slightly, but, keep in mind, most of my trail running occurs in the rugged, Texas Hill Country; where everything either bites, scratches, pokes, or is poisonous; or all of the above. You gradually grow numb to the various wounds you collect. But, here in paradise, everything caresses, cools, and literally invites you to eat it (as you will see below). Well, that lava rock can cut you and your shoes up pretty seriously but, other than that... I had the opportunity to visit Maui this August. My new friend Matt Holton's run report on the Haleakala crater captured my imagination, and I needed to squeeze in a long run (which is pretty much always the case :-). After an 8 hour plane ride, a 5 hour time change, I drove up to Matt and Cristina's cabin / studio gallery in the "up country" town of Kula bright-eyed and ready to go at 5:30 AM (Note: Hawaiian time, that's already 10:30 AM TX time... no wonder our girls were up watching cartoons at 3:00 AM). I had pre-packed my CamelBak. There is no "drinkable" water during this ~ 19 mile run so Matt, Ryan, and I would be hauling a fair load of water on our backs. I would later learn that Ryan, and his girlfriend Kendal, run cross-country for San Francisco State and, of course, Matt grew up in Maui and runs the crater about every week... I'd do my best to keep up with them. We would begin our run from the tiny town of Kaupo on the famous "Road to Hana," (~ 1000 ft elev.) climb the steep "Kaupo Trail" up the back side of the park to Paliku, run across the crater, and climb out to "Park Road" (~ 8000 ft elev.), where our friends had driven the rental to pick us up. Very nice of them, BTW, because I know they'd like to be running all day with us. :-)

Kendal, Dan, Ryan

Matt Holton & Cristina Pineda in
front of some of his amazing art.

Ryan, Matt, & David at the
Kaupo Trail head

You Can Eat Stuff!

The Pacific behind you on the
Kaupo Trail climb.

The climb from Kaupo to Paliku was tough; steep, no switch-backs, relatively humid in the morning (still, about 20 degrees cooler than TX at this time). But, all you have to do for inspiration to keep climbing is turn around and look at the view of the Pacific. I saw small, misty clouds stroll up the mountain with us. Hawaiians have about six different names for various clouds (hint #1 at the title). We top the climb off at the official entrance to the park, ~ 6 miles into the run and ~ 2 miles from Paliku. This is where we enter a beautiful forest with a smorgasbord of snacks growing along in the wild, along the trail; Avacados, mountain raspberries, and various other fruits I can't remember the names to. If a runner hit the trail at just the right time of season, when everything was in bloom and ripe, there would be no need to carry gels, bars, etc., etc.

Avacado tree

Matt carving up an Avacado

Mountain Berries

Akala berries
(Hawaiian raspberries)

Matt picking Mi'lei (sp?), a
fragrant leaf used in making traditional
leis. It smelled kind of coconutty to me.

Ryan holding ? fruit. I still
tried to eat it.

A Little "Side Excursion"

Paliku on the Kaupo trail.

We bounced over cushiony grass, through the park entrance, over to Paliku cabin ~ 9 miles into the run. It was at this point that Matt had warned me we would be taking a little side trail. "Just a half mile. Um, you don't really want to know what the elevation change is in that half mile, do you?" After we dropped our packs, Ryan and I had the same questionable look as we peered up the jungled cliff which is essentially the back side of the crater rim of Haleakala. This was hand-over-hand, grab onto tree roots or anything else you can find, climbing. I would pay for this little diversion. But, as Matt said, "every step was worth it." The view across the crater was breath-taking. You could see small clouds float across the valley (hint #2). It was sliding down this cliff "trail" where I fell on my butt in the intro paragraph. I actually mistook a small waterfall for the actual trail... believe me, easy to do.

The Paliku cliffs.

Climbing the Paliku Cliff
"Trail"

View from the Paliku Cliffs
across Haleakala crater.

Follow that cloud!

Park boundary on the cliff. Forest
reserve on the left, which drops down
to The Seven Sacred Pools.

Across the Crater
We put our packs back on and got ready for the exposed 9 mile run from Paliku, across the crater to Holua cabin, and the final climb up to Park Road. Matt and Ryan took off. I was trying to deny it to myself that I was wiped out from our little side excursion. It would take me a good 3 miles before I got my running legs back. This was an entirely different run now, across lava rock fields; surprising contrasts in colors of reds, yellows, browns, and blacks striped down large domes; surrounded by a ring of mountains. It would be fascinating to have a geologist explain the different minerals responsible for the visual feast. This stretch is why you need to haul so much water with you; it's a dry one. As I get near Holua, I see more hikers who have come down from the Park Road side. For some reason, it's kind of hard for them to comprehend what trail runners do; "You ran from from the other side?! In one day?! That's 30K! (obviously foreigners :-)" They confirmed for me a couple of things; 1) I was on the correct trail (Matt's clear Kimodo Vibram footprints in the grey lava gravel also served this purpose), and 2) as I suspected, Matt and Ryan were about 30 mins ahead, and I figured I'd be about 45 mins to an hour behind at the finish. Oh well, time to take some more pictures.

The Halemauu Trail across
the crater.

Colors in the crater.

Silversword cacti, apparently
only found in Haleakala crater.

I had one bottle of water left when I made it to Holua cabin, where it felt good to wash my feet off after traversing the crater. I knew I had a decent, 2.5 mile climb of switch-backs out of the crater left to go. But, I know switch-backs very well now, and I was feeling quite refreshed, motivated by the cold beer that was waiting for me, and friends. The views from this climb across the crater were, once again, spectacular. It was neat to reach the entry way of those loitering clouds I saw from afar in the morning, and climb above them; from ~ 1000 ft to 9000 ft over the day. As usual, there was a false top, but, I eventually saw the glimmering cars in the parking lot above; greeted by whoops and cheers from my Hawaiian friends. Cristina had placed an authentic lei made from grass and flowers from their garden on the dash of the rental car. An incredible ~8 hour day in paradise! Although I would soon be boogy-boarding with Susannah and the girls in the surf, I would periodically look up at Haleakala and think "I never did catch that friendly cloud. I wonder where it went?"

Mahalo!

- David. :-)

Approaching the climb to
Park Road after Holua Cabin.

Looking down on the
switch-backs.

David, Matt, & Ryan. Mahalo!

Haleakala Park Road trail head.

GPS route

Elevation Gain: 9,678 ft
Min Elevation: 1,043 ft
Max Elevation: 7,982 ft