This is the story of the day we biked down a volcano, which was definitely one of the most fun and different things we’ve done so far as a couple. Once upon a time, the day after our luau, a van picked us up outside our hotel at 1:55am and took us to the top of Haleakala to see the sun rise at 10,000 feet. I had read that you should go ahead and do this when you are still jet-lagged, since 2:00am was about 8:00am to us, but it was still a struggle. Thankfully, our hotel gave us extra pillows and blankets to take on the van, and we passed out as soon as we sat down, much to the envy of our fellow riders, who were trying to buy them off of us. At this point we knew we were on a van on Maui in the middle of the night on our way to watch the sun rise and then bike down a volcano, but that was about it. Here’s what happened next.
The Sunrise
I love that one little star.
We we arrived at the top of the volcano, it was pitch black. I wasn’t even sure where we were supposed to look for the sunrise, much less see the view. And of course, even in June, it was freezing. So we watched, and we waited, and we huddled in blankets with lots of other tourists, we soaked in that quiet, cold, anticipatory moment, which was eventually worth it.
Honestly, isn’t this surreal? It was like hanging out in heaven with God to see the view He wakes up to every morning. These moments of stillness out in creation are so vital and so rare in our culture. Everyone around us was just silently in awe of what was unfolding before us. I don’t know how long the entire magical sunrise process took, but it actually felt like a really long time, and it was just majestic.
People waiting on the other side.
My favorite photo of it.
On the other side of that glory, we basically looked like E.T.
Another angle of the view below.
Eventually when the sun was almost all the way up, a Hawaiian woman started singing a traditional native Hawaiian song to greet the morning. It was pure magic.
The volcanic ash was kind of a weird substance, but otherwise, it felt pretty much just like being on a mountain. Those people at the top had a sweet seat.
This moment was everything. Nothing to think about on earth but how gorgeous this world is.
A Bike Ride to the Beach
This was some of the early scenery from the van on our way to the bike starting point.
Next up, we took the van down a little ways to the biking starting point, with a quick pit stop at a visitors’ center to see this crazy silversword plant. I’m telling you this plant looks like it is spray-painted with metallic silver paint, but actually grows like that naturally. Apparently you used to be allowed to bike down from the very top, but too many people died on the treacherous roads up there, so now everyone has to drive down part of the way. Our guide did a great job on the ride explaining so much about Maui to us including its history, its people, its agriculture, its weather, surfing culture, what happens when the volcano oozes lava, what Jaws is really like, the character of the different regions, stories of priests evangelizing Maui, Bob Dylan concerts, and where to get the best breakfast burrito.
We pulled over at the starting point where we got our bikes and began our ride down the volcano’s roads in a line behind our guide. I’m not going to lie to you here, this ride was kind of scary. You can’t turn too sharply, or you’ll crash, so you just have to lean. I also kept getting the physical instinct to put my foot down when the curves were too sharp, but this is one instance in life where you CANNOT put your foot down. Well this should probably not be attempted for the first time when you’re literally coasting down curvy mountain roads in the midst of two-way traffic. There was one time I didn’t want to turn too sharply, swayed a bit too far out to the left, and saw my life flash before my eyes as an oncoming SUV came around the bend. I was not as shaken up by it at the moment as I was when we finally made it safely down to the beach, at which point I exclaimed repeatedly that I could have died. Will’s response was that yes, he was right behind me and was terrified watching me. So maybe it’s time to get a bike and practice on some car-free bike trails.
For most of the ride, obviously, I couldn’t take any photos, but we made an official photo stop at this beautiful spot to snap some of each other.
Gotta love those yoga pants UNDER the windbreaker pants they gave us. It was cold!
Makawao
Maybe the best part of the whole day was the scenery on the ride down, and of course, I have no photos of it because I was too busy trying not to die. But we rode through small villages, smelled fresh lavender fields, rode past Hawaiian cottages and churches, and through the woods lined with pine trees. We just kept shedding layers as the temperature went up and up as we went down. It was a pretty easy ride most of the time since we were just coasting down, but our guide told us some crazy bikers ride the whole thing uphill each year!
Next we stopped for breakfast in the darling town of Makawao, which has a small-town country western kind of feel, sort of like a smaller Jackson Hole. There may be more animal than human residents here (cats, dogs, lizards, roosters, etc.), and Will was just FASCINATED by his new lizard friend, obviously.
We stopped at a general store full of delicious foods and opted for acai bowls with quinoa and blueberries which amounted to a kind of smoothie in a bowl with toppings sort of situation. We settled in to enjoy them on a porch with this crazy rooster, and it was awesome. We learned very quickly that roosters are everywhere in Maui (not what you would expect!), and you seriously have to watch the video below to get a flavor for how this breakfast break went down.
Hitting the Beach
This van drove behind us the whole way, and that is the volcano we came down!
After our Makawao stop, we got back on our bikes and rode through Haliimaile and Paia, ending in Lower Paia Park and this glorious beach. We rode down all the way until we hit the sand. We had a great moment of beachfront celebration and then promptly passed back out in the van on the ride back to our hotel. I don’t think mornings get any better than this one.
Victory!!! Definitely a full day’s worth of adventure, and this was probably only at at 10:00am.
See all my posts on our trip to Maui here!
