Visiting the House of the Sun: Hiking at Haleakala National Park in Maui

Date: January 25, 2020

Place: Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii

Coordinates:Halemau'u Trail: 20.753301, -156.228401, Hosmer Nature Trail: 20.769330, -156.237417

Length: Halemau'u Trail:1.6 miles and Hosmer Nature Trail: 1 mile

Level: both easy

Looking back to my pre-COVID trips I'm resuming my accounts of my trip to Hawaii with my friends. After four days in Hawai'i, The Big Island, and hiking at Kaloko-Honokohao Historic Park, Kilauea Iki at The Hawaii Volcanos National Park, The Captain Cook Memorial, and sightseeing a bunch of other places, we took a little propeller airplane to Maui for the next part of our trip. After settling down in our lodge we made plans to visit Haleakala Volcano, our main destination in Maui.

The name Haleakala means "House of the Sun" in Hawaiian. Indeed, the pamphlets at our lodge had some very enthusiastic blurb about seeing the sunrise from the summit of Haleakala. When I checked the park's website there was much about how early one needs to be there in order to secure parking in the summit's small lot and how no roadside parking is allowed and so and so. After a brief discussion with my friends we arrived at the most suitable conclusion for women our age and status. We decided that our morning sleep is a way better choice than waking up in the middle of the night and crowding up at the summit for a sunrise, as beautiful as it may be. 

And so, at a very reasonable morning hour after a very satisfying breakfast, we drove off to the summit of Haleakala volcano. 

Even well after sunrise, the view from up there was absolutely stunning.

Haleakala Caldera

Maui is the immediate island north of Hawai'i, the Biog Island. I knew they were visible, one island from the other, but I was still, surprised and very thrilled to see Mauna Kea, the highest volcano in Hawai'i, from the summit of Haleakala.

Mauna Kea, in Hawai'i

Haleakala started its life as a shield volcano, but its later eruptions of more viscous lava had formed a complex caldera with smaller crated inside. I looked longingly at the hiking trails that meandered between the craters inside the caldera. I knew we didn't have the time to go down there and explore the area more closely. For this visit I'd have to settle for the overview and a couple of short hikes outside the caldera.

Crater inside the Caldera

But even on the short walk from the parking lot to the observation deck above he caldera I found some pretty flowers to look at.

This weird looking thistle was planted near the parking lot and I'm not sure if it's a Hawaiian native or an introduced plant. It was so beautiful and strange looking that I had to include it here in this post.

Thistle

After the summit view it was time to go on a hike. we drove down to the Halemau'u Trail where we expected to go on an easy hike to a lower view point of the caldera. Already at the trailhead there were pretty things to look at.

This would be a short hike, by either of our standards, so we went really light and took our time to take in the views.

Halemau'u Trail 1.6 miles in and out, our hike as captured by my GPS

The trail was almost level, and clear to walk on. The vegetation was comprised of mainly low shrubs, none of which I was familiar with or even similar to anything I knew.

Halemau'u

Some of the plants I remembered seeing at the Big Island a couple of days before. I still needed to re-identify them.

The trail curved very gently around the soft contour of the mountain slope. The vegetation didn't change at all along he trail and there was no seeing of the caldera yet. We had an easy walk and a light chat, and didn't pay attention to the light cloud that hang very low just below the mountain line. We didn't realize at the time that the cloud there was a feature, not a bug. 

We didn't see much wildlife at all. Hardly any insects and even fewer birds. These, we found out later, were concentrated mainly in the lower elevations. I did spot a bird that was far away. It had a curved bill but it wasn't the I'iwi, one of the Hawaiian birds I was looking for and so far only had a quick glimpse of at the Big Island. It was even more special - a bird endemic to the island of Maui. 

Maui Amakihi, endemic to Maui

Of the insects we did see, most were bees that were doing their rounds around the flowers that were blooming on the mountain slope. 

Māmane, Sophora chrysophylla, endemic

I was glad to recognize one of the cuter wildflowers that we saw at the crater floor of Kilauea Iki a few days back. There were lots of them along the trail here. 

Ōhelo, Vaccinium reticulatum

Closer to where the observation point the trail turned a rocky corner with much thicker vegetation, much of it was tall ferns, similar to those I've seen around the Kilauea Iki Crater in the Big Island. 

When we reached the lip of the caldera we saw that it was full of cloud. The cloud has settled in (or grew out of) the lower part of the caldera while we were driving down and walking, and it blocked the entire view inside. It did have its own charming beauty though, and for a good time we sat there gazing at the shifting wisps of vapor that moved below us.

Crater 'View'

We were all alone on that trail. While there were many people up at the summit area, no one else was hiking the Halemau'u Trail but us. It was the perfect setting for our reconnecting with one another.

As we strolled back to the trailhead I was trying to pick up the little things that I missed on the way in, like this little blackberry flower.

Blackberry, Rubus sp.

I think one of the biggest impressions that this place has left in me was of how different it was from any other place I've ever visited before. This was truly a new world for me.

Māmane, Sophora chrysophylla, endemic

Right at the trailhead there was a bird on the ground. I motioned my friends to pause and raised my camera. I took quite a few photos before it flew away. I now had a bird to show my family birders when I returned home. It wasn't an I'iwi, but it was a new one fr me.

Sky Lark

We were driving down to the lower part of the park when we passed a goose by the roadside. On the next road curve I made a U turn and went back uphill to where I saw the goose, hoping it wouldn't have flown away by then. Thankfully, it was still there and it was very patient with the three very attentive tourists that were very please to see in person the Hawaii State Bird.

Nene 

Nene geese are not nomadic and don't spend their lives on the water, but are endemic to Hawaii and live at the higher mountain areas of the islands. Eventually we left the goose and went on with our drive down to the campground where the Hosmer Trailhead was. We wanted to hike a bit more before leaving Haleakala National Park.

Hosmer Nature Trail: 1 mile, our hike as captured by my GPS

 

Just about the first thing I noticed as we pulled into the day use parking area of the campground were the pine trees. They were not native Hawaiian, I could bet everything I had on that, without knowing the species. I was right - these droopy-needle pines were introduced. They were so striking in their beauty that for a few long minutes I just stood there, staring at them with awe.

When I managed to divert my gaze from the pretty pines I looked up slope. There was no seeing of the Haleakala summit where we were earlier that morning. The slope was too mild to see it. It was low, sagebrush-like vegetation all the way as far as my eyes could see.

We didn't even leave the parking area before I saw a wildflower blooming nearby. It was of the suncup family, but I didn't know the species. I also couldn't tell if it was a native Hawaiian plant or an introduced species.

I was still looking at the flower when I caught a glimpse of red flying through the air. When the red spot settled on a small tree down the road I identified it with much excitement - it was the I'iwi I was looking for! I stalked the I'iwi for a bit with my amused friends in tow until it flew too far for my camera.

I'iwi

Like a little red guide, the I'iwi led us to the trailhead. According to my map it was a little loop through the vegetation that went a little bit up the slope.

Hosmer Nature Trail

Here and there were a few signs describing the vegetation, and that summed up the interpretive part of the trail. We enjoyed a nice walk through the unfamiliar new landscape, enjoying a perfect weather and each other's company.

 Although I generally look for wildflowers, I do appreciate pretty fruits and berries. I've no idea if these below are edible even though they looked good.

 

Eventually the trail lopped back downhill, and took us in the direction of a grove of trees that looked to me as eucalyptus, a genus that's clearly exotic to Hawaii.

We passed by a shallow creek that had larger, indigenous trees growing in it. There was no surface water flowing there and I assumed that that creek flows only after rain storm or during snow melt time, if there is any snow on the mountain top.

The first trees we saw when we entered the large grove below the hill were not the eucalyptus but a conifer species that was called Sugi Pine, an introduced Japanese species that was not even a pine.

Sugi Pine, Cryptomeris japonica 

The grove was of closely growing conifers and eucalyptus, deeply shaded and devoid of any noticeable undergrowth. The ground was covered with a thick layer of dead leaves that rustled beneath our feet. All of a sudden we were all very quiet, as if subdued by this strange forest of alien trees.

Eucalyptus were introduced in many places in the world, including California, and as I was seeing on this hike - Hawaii as well. They are actually quite pretty. I don't know the species of eucalyptus I saw in that grove but it had deep red sap, the kind I've never seen before.

Messmate Eucalyptus

When we exited the grove it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust back to the bright sunlight out in the open. While we were in the trees light wisps of clouds descended on the mountain slope. We walked lazily back to the trail's end, considering what to do next.

Neither of us was all too surprised to see feral chickens out in the open near the parking lot. It seemed these birds were everywhere in the islands.

Driving through the farmlands down the lower elevations, already outside of the park, I did stop to photograph two more introduced animal species: cattle and cattle egrets. Cows were introduced by humans of course, and the cattle egrets simply hitchhiked along.

It was already late in the afternoon when we left Haleakala so we ended up going back to the lodge to enjoy a quiet evening and a lovely stroll near the ocean. I was amazed by the sharp contrast between the tamed tropical, tourist-populated shores of Maui and the wild, pristine heights of the Haleakala volcano. If my way would take me back to Maui, I hope to do a more serious exploration of this grand mountain.