Today we got up at an ungodly hour. 1:45 am, to leave here at 2:15 since we had to check in at 3:30 am. Aaaaggghhhh! The reason? We wanted to see the sunrise from the Haleakala crater and then bike down the volcano.
We did go to bed early, which helped, but...
We were almost ready to leave the bike check-in office to head up the volcano.
This is one of the vehicles transporting us and our bikes. Notice how dark it is?
It was wonderful watching the sun rise though - above the clouds on top of the volcano.
These people (whom I recognized) were shivering in the corner of the ranger building. I have to admit, it was rather windy up there, and cold. It was 46 F (about 8 C).
When the sun finally appeared, the park ranger chanted the Hawaiian prayer at sunrise. Rather a surreal setting.
It was amazing how quickly the night turned to day.
In the distance, you can see Mauna Loa on The Big Island from here. It's about 60 miles away.
We then went back down to our "staging area". Because of liability issues, you can't ride the bikes in Haleakala National Park, which occupies the top of the volcano.
We had our bikes outfitted by size, and off we went!
Here are Gerard and Bob, outfitted to tackle the 24 miles downhill. At this point, we had already biked about 15 minutes.
About 1/3 of the way down, we started to discard clothes as it was getting warmer and warmer. I caught Gerard with his pants down!
We finished the ride in about 2 hours, with several stops along the way. I have to admit, my okole was getting a little sore. Haven't done much biking lately.
We had breakfast/lunch near the bike office where we ended up. Not sure what it is called before noon on a day where you get up before 2 am. Then we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach Park near Pa'ia on our way back to the condo, which is a haven for windsurfers and kite surfers too.
The end of our day was complete with a nice meal on our balcony. And we gawk at the things that go by on the ocean.
No comments:
Post a Comment