Haleakalā 2015: Day 2 - Kapalaoa to Paliku Cabin

Sunrise Kapalaoa Cabin

Mountain House Eggs & Bacon, Dubliners Cheese, Taco Bell Hot Sauce, and Sinaloa Tortillas

My bag (and clothes drying in the background)

50L M/L Kelty Redwing

Kapalaoa to Paliku

Haleakalā 2015: Day 1 - HNL to OGG. Haleakalā Summit. Sliding Sands to Kapalaoa Cabin.

July 1 through July 4, 2015, with the Makiki Ward (LDS) Young Women!  Four days, three nights in Haleakalā!

GPS track of the four days of hiking

Hawaiian Airlines

Haleakala from OGG

Haleakala Post-Script

During the first week of July 2015 I spent four days and three nights hiking Haleakalā with the LDS Makiki Ward Young Women.  It was awesome.  (Pics here).

I had a goal of keeping my backpack to 30 pounds for the Haleakalā hike.  I originally wanted to keep it to 25 pounds, but that quickly became unrealistic (and I didn't want to spend the money needed to keep the weight that low).  I created an inventory of what I was packing listed here: http://lighterpack.com/r/8nisub

May 2015 Halema`uma`u Lava Lake

The inner crater at Halema`uma`u filled with lava to the point the it was overflowing onto the crater floor and was clearly visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook.  I headed to Hilo with my father and stayed at my brother's house in Hawaiian Paradise Park to see Halema`uma`u in action.  The first night (about 1:00 am) it was cloudy and rainy.  The Jaggar overlook was nearly empty.  The lava lake was spectacular!  Not great for taking pictures.

Robert overlooking the Halema`uma`u lake of lava.

I returned the next night with my father at around 10:00 pm.  It was packed!  For about 20 minutes the skies cleared and the lava was spectacular.

We also checked out Pahoa and the recent lava flow at the Pahoa Transfer Station.

Apa`a Street, Pahoa:

What remains of the only home in Pahoa overrun by lava.

Rest of the pics here (Halema`uma`u) and here (Pahoa).

July 6, 2014 Halema`uma`u

Wouldn't be a trip to the Big Island without visiting Halema`uma`u, especially at night.  The crater lookout at the Jaggar Museum was packed!  Being that it was Fourth of July weekend Volcano National Park had park rangers lining up traffic and parked cars down the road leading to the lookout.  I've never seen the lookout so packed!  The vog made for a spectacular sunset.

Sunset illuminated clouds over Mauna Loa.

People were lined up along the lookout wall.

Pele put on quite a show!  Always such a beautiful sight.

Rest of the pics here.

July 4, 2014 Mauna Kea Summit

For July Fourth my Dad and I drove up to the summit of Mauna Kea. It was a beautiful day on the Big Island, with some high clouds and tons of blue sky and sunshine. My rental Jeep handled the unpaved road to the summit perfectly.

A few minutes after we got to the top, a Mini Cooper strolled up! It was followed a few minutes later by some tourists in a Ford Mustang and a couple rental Chevy sedans!

 

My Dad and I took a couple of selfies at the top overlooking the Keck Observatory and Haleakala.

 

Being nearly 14,000 feet high, the air is quite thin! Every movement is strained and we were both getting dizzy from altitude sickness. So we decided to attempt trekking to the summit, only a 200 yard trail.

We made it about halfway before reality set in. Time to turn around.

 

After catching our breath, we checked out the inside of the Keck Observatory.

We drove up to some radar dish looking things then made our way down the mountain.

Rest of the pics here.

Headed out on Mother's Day Weekend for a little holoholo with Sommer and Hōkūle`a. Stopped by Kualoa Beach Park and took some pictures of Mokoli`i.

 

Rest of the album here.