Maui Day 4: Haleakala Bike Trip

So day 4 hadn't even dawned before we were up and out of our hotel. We left in complete darkness at 2:45 AM to cross the island and make it to the base of Haleakala, the dormant (geologically speaking) volcano that anchors the eastern half of the island, by 4 AM. We got to the Haleakala Bike Company around 4 AM, got our gear, and started for the top in a big van with 20 other riders.

We got to the crater at the top about 15 minutes before sunrise. The scene was unearthly and beautiful:



And the crater itself looked like this:



The ride down the mountain is 39 miles, and you really only need to pedal 3 or 4 times. Yes, kind of a cop out, but biking up the mountain would be grounds to be committed.

We got to the bottom of the mountain, turned in our bikes, and drove up to the north shore of Maui, where the waves were coming in 15 or 20 feet high, no joke. There was a wind surfer cutting through the waves, but no surfers. Apparently it was "closed out", which someone told us is when there's no gaps in the waves for surfers to swim out. The sight from shore was pretty spectacular:



After an hour of wave-watching, it was to the airport, for a trip to the Big Island, and the most active volcano in the world. We arrived too late for anything but driving, and sleeping...