Escape winter rain at Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii

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View from summit of Haleakala Crater, Maui.

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One of my favorite things to do in the winter in Maui is drive to the top of Haleakala.  Winter is the rainy season in Maui, and it is not unusual for the northern and eastern sides of the island to be blanketed in clouds for days at a time.  The rain is warm, soft, and beautiful.  It makes the rain forest shimmer with every color of green.  Streams swell, waterfalls roar, and Maui comes to life.  But the rain is wet, dark, and sticky, and after a few weeks of it I need the sun.  So I drive to the top of Haleakala.

Once you hit 6000 feet, the area near the official park entrance and Hosmer Grove Campground, the clouds begin to break.  At first it’s just a feeling of change; a subtle lightening of the sky, a breath of air that doesn’t feel so heavy, a swirling glimpse into the distance.  Then the sun comes at you in a great rush.  The clouds disappear and you are blinking at a bright new world.  The air is dry, and the remaining 4000 feet to the summit stretches out before you, surrounded by nothing but deep blue sky.

I like to stop at a pull out just below the summit and sit on the dark warm rocks.  I can see the snowy peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Lea on the Big Island poking out through the clouds.  Cars cruise past in their rush to the summit.  Bikers from the Haleakala Bike Company whoop their way down the mountain, exhilarated by their pace, the crisp air, and the warm, dry sun.  I understand their joy.  The world below is bathed in rain, but we have found the sun.

I'm planning on visiting the summit again soon for (hopefully) a tour of the observatory.  I'll write again when that happens!  Wish me luck!