Yesterday my daughter Lelia and I drove to the summit of the Haleakala volcano in the National Park of the same name. The temperature change from sea level (84F) to summit (54F) was really something to behold and fortunately we were prepared with some warm coats to wear upstairs.

As we reached about 8,000 feet above sea level we realized that we were higher than the layer of clouds that we could see from the base of the mountain. The road climbed ever so slowly up the hill with our driver, me, going even slower. I’m used to alpine driving, but this was white knuckle work even for me. In many places there were no guard rails between the road and the sheer drop to below, which made me very uncomfortable. The guard rails don’t make safety any better, but they provide some psychological help.

At about 9,000 feet I decided to turn around at a small parking lot, one of the last ones between us and the summit, so it was go,no go at this point.

All in all it was an enjoyable excursion and I’m glad that we tried it, but if I ever return to Maui, I won’t make this trip again.