volcano « Paleo Vélo

Sunrise on Haleakalā was stunning, but since we had to leave immediately afterward as part of the bike tour we were on, we had no time to do any hiking down into the Haleakalā “crater.” (Technically, it’s not a crater, but that’s the easiest way to describe it).

I’m glad we spent another morning driving up there to explore a bit more as it’s a fantastic area. The only downside is that you start the hike with a descent down into the crater and then have a long trudge uphill breathing thin 10,000 foot air on the way back.

There are three cabins down in the crater, and if you are lucky with the reservation lottery, you could plan a fantastic hike from the summit to one of the cabins, spend the night, and then spend the next day hiking a trail all the way down to the east coast of Maui, where you would need a car pickup. That, along with actually riding up to the summit of Haleakalā by bike are on my list for next time I come here.

You can see why NASA once had astronauts in training practice moonwalks in this same area:

In general, the islands of Hawaii are anything but a road biking paradise. The roads are narrow, shoulders small if they exist at all, and traffic can be surprisingly bad. Given the spectacular scenery and year-round perfect weather, this is unfortunate.

Because of this, I rarely think to bring a bike with me when I visit, even though I do have an S&S coupled travel bike. Between snorkeling, hiking, and swimming, there are just too many other amazing outdoor adventures in Hawaii for me to bother trying to road bike during the brief time I have here.

But if you are going to do some riding here, why not ride down a volcano? Paleo Velo in action.

Haleakalā is a massive shield volcano on Maui. The road to the Haleakala summit holds the world record for climbing to the highest elevation in the shortest distance (38 miles). I would love to have a road bike here one day and actually ride up the 25+ hairpin turns from sea level to its 10,023 foot summit. But you’d have to get up pretty early if you wanted to ride up to the top in time to see the sunrise, which is one of the most spectacular things I’ve witnessed.

Fortunately, there are tour companies that specialize in taking people to the top for the sunrise, and giving them a bike for the ride back down. The two AM wake-up call necessary to get to the bike shop and then up top in time for the sunrise was brutal, but the payoff was worth it.

You’ll find below a few pics of the sunrise, and the ride back down aboard a craptastic Gary Fisher singlespeed mountain bike. (If you are listening bike tour companies of the world, the bike you give someone for a 2 hr ride down a paved road should not have big honking knobbies!).

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