Finally, today was crater day. I had benn looking forward to going up to seeing Haleakala park for the past several days. They say it is a religious experience seeing the sunrise from on top of the summit. Unfortunately, you need reservations and they were booked out for weeks in advance. The space is very limited at the summit, so they only allow 20 vehicles up each day for the sunrise and they suggest going up around 3:30am.
We decided to wait and go a little after the park opened. The drive up was absolutely beautiful as we drove through four distinct eco systems. Crazy to think we climbed over 10,000 feet within less than 36 miles from sea level. They say it is the only such place in the US, maybe even the world.
Along the drive it had parking lookouts for the scenic views about every 1000 feet of climbing. Needless to say we took advantage of each and dear old dad got out and took some pictures and videos. Not only did we climb up in altitude, but dropped in temperature. Thankfully, we all brought jackets as it got a bit chilly, but truly windy the closer we got to the summit.
Mind blowing view at the summit. The colors, landscape and sheer size of it all was magnificent. You almost felt as if you could be on Mars. After viewing most of the pictures, they simply do not portray the landscape properly as the colors do not pop in the pictures.All of us walked a few of the trails throughout the park and finally headed back down as the bellies starting growling.
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