A visit to Maui would not really be complete without a trek to the highest point, the dormant volcano known as Haleakalā, or “the house of the sun.”

In Hawaiian folklore, the crater at the summit of Haleakalā was home to the grandmother of the demigod Maui. According to the legend, Maui’s grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky in order to lengthen the day.

The tourist literature would have you believe that the “proper” time to visit Haleakalā is at sunrise. But with sunrise around 6:30am, a 2-hour drive to the top with a need to get there early to ensure a parking spot, a 2 or 3am departure time would have been necessary. And with a partner who doesn’t do windy roads or mornings (especially windy roads in the morning!) the sunset option was the better choice! 🙂

We did a tour with a professional driver, which for a first-timer or anyone a little nervous about the winding roads is probably the way to go. If I have a chance to go back, however, I would opt to drive myself, getting there earlier then staying well past sunset to see the stars come out. But that’s me, and for most people that would mean missing dinner! As it was, I was the last person on the bus. Although I was not late (I always promise a driver that I will always be last but that I will not be late! 😉 ) all of the other passengers were anxiously waiting for me, and I had barely gotten to my seat when the bus started to move. Sheesh! Of course, I was the only 1 of the 2 or 3 passengers out of 16 that had a real camera, and the only one with a tripod!

The one thing that might be better about sunrise, is that depending on your vantage point you could compose the rising sun with the crater in the foreground. But since the crater is in shadow in all but the middle of the day when the sun is overhead, it would still be a chancy shot. As it was, I had to rely on a bit of processing magic to balance the highlights and shadows of the photographs I made.

So our visit to Haleakalā was just one of the many things that made our Maui adventure a memorable one. I didn’t actually take too many photographs, but the ones I did take I am pretty happy with!