Day three of Art Every Day Month, and I have to ask the question:
Am I endangered?
The question of the day was Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64. I am 64. I am 64? Are we sure about that? I don’t feel 64, but then I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel like at 64. I don’t look 64, but then again, what am I supposed to look like at 64? The fact remains that I am now 64.
Being in Maui for any birthday is amazing and I’d like to do it again. If there were a mecca of youth, this might be it, and not only for young people. Relaxation, endless ocean to watch, endless beaches to walk on, water to sail on, swim in, surf on – it’s all like an elixir. However, I was going to have a rather arduous day on my birthday because my husband and I were riding a horse to the bottom of the Haleakala Crater.
This was by choice of course. There was a crater. I had never been to a crater, much less in a crater, and the somewhat expensive option of riding a horse down and up was available. Who am I to pass up that option? I like riding horses and horses do what I want them to. My husband isn’t so hot on the idea and horses do not do what he wants them to do, but he’s a good sport and so we had reservations and set out.
It’a a two-hour drive from Ka’anapoli to Haleakala through the Up Country. And up and up to 10,000 feet. I don’t like heights and by the end of this road I could barely hold in tears. I hear the view was incredible but I kept telling Mark, “Drive, don’t look.” Here’s the view from the top.
Time for adventure
We met Doug, our guide, and the six other people on the trip. Doug assigned horses and he gave me one named Cowboy. He almost did it hesitantly so I speculated on what kind of horse this Cowboy was. We all mounted, had the stirrups adjusted, and set out on the Sliding Sands Trail.
Here’s a few facts:
Haleakala is referred to as the world’s largest dormant volcano.
The floor is 7.5 miles wide and 2.5 miles long.
The floor is 3,000 feet deep.
Haleakala originally was 12.000 ft., but water erosion carved out two valleys that eroded into each other.
The National Park was established in 1916 and covers 27,284 acres.
Non-native species like goats were threatening the ecology so the entire rim of the crater was fenced – all 32 miles.
Barren scenery
Right away the scenery was barren yet lovely – sands of different colors swirled together to form a funnel shape that changed from every angle. I fell behind as I stopped Cowboy to take pictures.
Doug was worried – I was falling behind because I couldn’t handle the horse. I assured him that Cowboy was doing everything I asked of him – it was me that slowed us down. Cowboy had decided to accept me and do what I wanted, as long as it was reasonable. He had turned his head and looked me right in the eyes for a few moments and I KNOW that horse was taking stock of his rider.
I go airborne
The trail was switchback after switchback – we were descending over 3,000 feet. Loose lava and other irregularities were scattered throughout the trails so we just had to trust the horses’ footing. The next picture is not of the trail, but of the tyes of rocks the horses had to deal with, sometimes in profusion.
There were numerous “step-downs” where the horses had to do the equivalent of going down a steep step full of lava rocks and tricky footholds. I (and probably everyone else) was telling myself that the horses do this several times a week, and the Pony Express company wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t safe.
Cowboy and the others needed some urging, and there was one step-down that Cowboy refused to negotiate. Since I was the one in control, I gave him a swift kick and he complied. He just did it his way. He solved the problem by jumping over the step. I wasn’t expecting to go airborne but I stayed on. He was that kind of horse. Independent. A problem solver. Willing to take risks.
Have you seen the Michelin Man?
I should mention that it is cold up there at 10,000 feet. It can be lovely on the crater floor and in the 30s at the top. I had on my winter jacket, three other layers, plus gloves. With all that plus my fannie pack on my side, I felt like the Michelin Man.
The landscape was barren as one might expect. But the shapes and colors make up for any lack of vegetation.
We passed some beautiful cinder cones.
We were so far away! I so hoped the trail would take us closer, and it did.
Of course, we weren’t that close, but I wasn’t using my 18-250 lens. I had a (shoot, senior moment and I’m not home to look) much shorter lens.
En garde -the Silversword
There’s a flower called the silversword that lives only in the Haleakala crater. We just missed bloom – should have been blooming through October but it’s been a dry year, so bloom ended early. From a distance, it appears as if swords have been wrapped in tin foil at the base and set upright.
The wild goats drove the silversword to the brink of extinction, but the 32-mile fence around the crater’s top has been successful at keeping goats out, and the plant is making a recovery. As many plants do, at least desert plants, the silversword has a long life and abrupt death. It grows for 50 years, then blooms, sending out a 9-foot stalk with rust, yellow, and reddish flowers, sending out its seeds as fall approaches. Having completed its job, the plant dies. We did see one silversword that was intact but the bloom had lost color. The silver leaves are usually turned up, like the little plants in the above photo.
If you’re interested, you can find a short entry on another interesting plant – the stinky corpse plant – here.
Chow time
We continued, reached the bottom and stopped for lunch, which was provided - nice croissant sandwiches, cookies and fruit (I sensed Costco), and punch. Plus one chocolate muffin sitting all by itself. It turned out that the muffin was for me, and on top was a note that said Happy Birthday in Hawaiian! On my 64th birthday, at the bottom of Haleakala Crater, I got a birthday song. Pretty fantastic, if you ask me.
We ate on the crater floor at the end of this trail:
This was my view.
We had company. There are chukars down there – lots of them. Doug said they circle the fringes of the lunch area, find their targets, and come in for the attack. We weren’t bothered by the chukars- we had a wasp problem.
Going back motivates the horses
The return trip was the same as the trip down, except the horses seemed to have an easier time going up (they were also more motivated), and we had shed the warm clothing. It was afternoon, and as we climbed upward the clouds came in.
Doug said that we had magnificent weather – the wind could have been blowing, the temperature could have started at freezing, it could have been cloudy. But if anyone wants to travel with me – I have fantastic weather luck on trips, and I’m not jinxing it by saying that.
We got more views of that wonderful swirling sand.
By the time we reached the Sliding Sands Trailhead, we’d been on those horses around 4.5 hours, and it felt like it.
Time to laugh at me (with me, actually)
Ok, now I will let you laugh at me. I am too short to get on a horse without standing on a rock or bench. That means getting off is hard too. Maybe I am too old as well as too short, who knows? But for the last dismount, I told Doug that I was going to do this one gracefully. So I put my leg over, slid off and landed on my butt. Everyone was worried – was I ok? But I was laughing so hard I could barely get up. So much for being graceful. There was a time when I would have been embarrassed. Thank God I’m beyond that.
We were sore (me not so much) and getting our land feet back. We were both exhausted so we drove back to our little condo, must have eaten something for dinner, and collapsed. Possibly my best birthday aside from the surprise party my daughter gave me for my 60th. That will always reign as the best birthday possible ever.
