Up Past the Volcanic Cow Line

 

The telescopes at the top of Haleakala are prominent from the parking lot at the top of the mountain. They are used largely for tracking satellites, we learned from the informational plaques. They are not open to the public.

A view of the island of Maui. The road leads up to the rim of the crater near where the black arrow intersects with the rim. One can look down into the crater. The magical road goes up the slope on the far side of the mountain, which is not visible from this angle.

Tue -- For our first full day of stay in Upcountry, we tackled the big enchilada of tourism in this part of the island---driving up to the top of Haleakala, the massive volcano that pretty much forms the entire land mass of east Maui, and which is of course just the top 10,000 feet of a seamount that rises from the bottom of the ocean, as do all the mountaintops that form the islands of Hawaii, as well the ones now sunken underwater that stretch northwest all the way back to the tip of Siberia.

At breakfast we finally met our host, whose house and horse pasture we passed coming and going from the residence. Following the explicit directions on the chalkboard in the main room, had to ring a small metal bell to summon him from the kitchen when we were ready to be served. He learned the names of his horses and how he obtained them. We ate our breakfast and I drank a double French press of coffee in the cool air of the balcony looking out towards the sea.

Once in the car, we allowed GPS to escort us back through the labyrinth of narrow forest roads until we emerged into the open green pastures of the Uploads outside Makawao, then proceeded southwards long the road until we found the turn off that would lead up the mountain to the summit, which is a national park. The turn off sign was in the form of the familiar brown national park sign, which brings us warm feelings when one sees it, from previous trips going back to childhood and young adulthood, when one first starts to travel on one's one, with the freedom to go to such places on one's own volition. Welcome! , the sign says ,Put aside your daily life, where you travel on roads flanked by fences and power lines past shopping centers and mangy humdrum landscapes. This road is special a magical type road that leads to a magical place. 

The elevation of Makawao town is about 1500 feet, Google tells me. The elevation at the top of the road is over 10,000 fit, so that makes for quite a climb. If you are used to the Rocky Mountains, for example,  a typical climb up a mountain might be 5000 feet at most and would involve a long route with ups and downs through gulches and canyons. Not so for Haleakala. It feels like the kind of road up a mountain that a child might draw with crayons. 

It's the archetype of "mountain"--one long open slope from the summit down to the flats of central Maui. Going up, one winds back and forth on switchbacks up through the ranches, past the "Cow Line", as I called it (as opposed to the Tree line), until the vegetation is too scrub for pasture, and then seeing the jagged rocks only one gets to the visitor center.

At a small visitor center I purchased a couple postcards as has been my habit for many years, going back to when I traveled around the country from 2004-2012, although now I rarely send them, except to a few individuals who still want to receive them. It was one of the things that make me a living anachronism, that I still send postcards to people. If I knew more people who would like to receive them from me, I would send them, because they are a joy to send. Eventually postcards will probably disappear entirely from gift shops entirely, probably when the Boomers die out.

At the top of the mountain, there is a second visitor center, which was closed. One can walk around several trails on the black volcanic rocks to take in the view from various angles, down the mountain and towards West Maui, and also out to sea to summit of the even higher volcanoes on the Big Island, which are still active. One learns from the displays at the summit of Haleakala that it last erupted in 1790, but is expected to erupt again at some point (although not at its summit). In fact the "crater" one sees from the summit is not a caldera but rather a canyon that was filled in through lava flows. It is punctuated with cones in a way that reminds of the recent footage of Iceland.

Descending from the summit, down past the Cow Line again until we found ourselves existing the magical road back onto the normal road. Then we explored parts of the Uplands, going all the way south to the historic Ulupakulua Ranch Store, a landmark in that part of the island, which is a quaint rustic gift shop and a cafe where we had an early dinner. I got a hamburger streak. We ate on the front porch after they called our names to pick up our food.

On the way back is when we detoured off the road into the lush green pasture lands of the historic ranches winding on the rocky lanes lined by black volcanic rock walls that felt like Scotland. Here we located the house of the famous billionaire talk show host who purchased property here a decade ago and has been come to be called "The Queen of Maui." I normally don't care about celebrity sights like this, but the talk show hosts's presence here has been interesting and  bit controversial regarding to purchase of land. Also she was a very open Kamala Harris supporter in the recent electioin, so it feels much better to bask in the sinful schaudenfreude about how these folks are feeling at the moment. I mention this because of course Hawaii went for Harris, but unlike how I might have felt in the past, when showing people my credit card or id, for example, I feel no hint of grumbling animosity.

Yet besides the shop window in Wailuku where I bought my Lahaina t-shirt, I saw no hint of advocacy of the defeated Democratic candidate. It is my firm belief that everyone, even shrieking liberals now losing their minds over the election results, wanted Trump to win, even if they could never admit it.  Almost everything that has happened since the election has confirmed this to me. It feels like we are emerging from a dark dream and things can be "normal" again in some way, even as so many weird things are happening. I love everyone here. God bless Hawaii.