Haleakala (Hah-lay-ah-kah-lah) is a 10,000 foot tall sleeping volcano on the eastern side of Maui. In Hawaiian, the word means "House of the Sun." Every year, more than one million people trek to the crater overlook area in Haleakala National Park to watch the sunrise.
Prior to that morning, I had been looking forward to making this pilgrimage as much as James had. But at 3:30 in the morning, nursing a splitting wine-hangover headache, all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed. So, as best I could on that curvy, dark, nauseating ride up, up, up Haleakala, I slept. But not before swallowing some advil and water.
I awoke at the gates to Haleakala National Park when James was paying the entrance fee. I felt slightly perkier after napping, and my headache had subsided. We followed a chain of cars to the parking area at the crater overlook, located at an elevation of 9,470 feet. Our excitement grew as a slight glow in the sky became visible in the distance.
We scurried out of the car past hundreds and hundreds of other people to claim a spot from which we could watch the sunrise. My excitement quickly faded as the cold, biting wind ripped through the three thin layers I was wearing. The temperature at 9,470 feet, at 5 :35 A.M., was 51 degrees before the wind chill. I don't know what the temperature actually was after factoring in the wind, but I can tell you that it felt as cold as winter in Boston.
James and I cuddled, as wind whipped tears ran down my face. I almost went back to the car. I was so miserably cold I could hardly breathe let alone stand. Fortunately, at that moment, my husband (that still sounds weird!) told me there were only 8 minutes left until sunrise. We reasoned that we could stand anything for 8 minutes. So we huddled together, watching the sky and taking pictures to distract each other from the bitter cold.
For the amount of time and energy people put in to getting up early and driving to the top of a mountain, you'd think more of them would stick around after sunrise to see what else the area has to offer. But apparently, people would rather hurry back down the mountain for breakfast or to go back to sleep. So, James and I had the crater and summit areas essentially to ourselves, after sharing the most amazing sunrise of our lives with 800+ perfect strangers.
1 comment:
pretty pictures!
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