We woke up at 2:30am to drive 10,00ft up a volcano in darkness. Theres a terrible feeling you get in your gut when youve only had an hour of sleep but I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Haleakala was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Its a strange sight to see the headlights of a procession of cars driving through the darkness at a insane hour of the morning but after close to two hours of driving up the volcano, you reach the top of the caldera. Theres a sense of anticipation as you wait with a hundred other people in complete darkness with the air temperature hovering at about 4 degrees celcius. As we waited for something to happen you start thinking about how nice your bed would be right now....but then you start to see the faintest hint of light. It is so gradual that you can barely tell the light is getting brighter.
After a little while you find yourself above the cloudline with the outline of a blanket of cloud appearing off into the horizon. Then a shimmer of light appears on the cloudline. The sun rises in a spectacular display of orange sunlight and then the shadowy crater of Haleakala reveals itself. The immensity of this caldera makes you stare in awe of the destructive powers that must have at one time torn this volcano apart. You realise you have been standing on the edge of a crater kilometres in diameter. Having such a magnificent landscape revealed in the way it was is something I will never forget. Well worth getting up at 3am for.
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