Haleakala Crater Hike

We hiked the Haleakala Crater yesterday, and it was quite a hike! At a length of 10 miles with an elevation change of about 1,500 ft, it doesn't sound so bad. This hike was HARD- the elevation change was quite unusal for me. We started at about 8,000 ft and descended to somewhere around 6,500 ft. On the way back up, I really felt that elevation change! It became incredibly hard to breathe during the ascent, and the higher we got, the more breaks I had to take. I just couldn't catch my breath! Being used to hiking at sea level, I've never felt anything like this. So here are tons of pictures, and a really long video that probably only my parents will want to see. :)

Enjoy the scenery!

Crater Hike

Hope you enjoyed it! We sure did!

Hello Hawaii!!

Where's the best place to get a little bit of sun after being in Alaska all summer? I'm sure there are plenty of really good places, but Maui is one of my favorites! So now I'm in Hawaii, which may be a little weird for an Alaskan blog, but why not? Thought I'd keep you guys posted about the wonders of the islands while on vacation!

Today we woke up at 3am, which wasn't that hard because of the time change, and got on the road early. Our goal: the Haleakala sunrise over the volcanic crater, one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.

Isn't it amazing? We drove up the road and finished the hike to the summit in the dark using my phone as a flashlight. We couldn't see a thing! And as the sun slowly started peaking up over the horizon, what I thought were rocks turned out to be CLOUDS! It looked like we were on a castle up in the sky.

We also saw a plant that only grows at the Haleakala crater and no where else on earth: the silversword.

Silversword shoots off a huge inflorescence and then dies. Isn't it beautiful?

More adventures to come!!