The Iao Crater - Lahaina Pali Trail

Today we hiked the Lahaina Pali Trail. We got off to a late start, leaving the trailhead at about 8:30 AM. The sun was already high in the sky and we could feel the heat. Our lateness was further driven home, when 5 minutes into the hike we met another hiker on his way back.

It was a steady climb through lava boulders, rock and gravel.  We were climbing the smaller of the two Maui craters, Iao. The higher we went, the better the ocean vista behind us. It was arid landscape as we were on the west side of the crater and the rainforests are on the east, the windward side. Most of the vegetation was dry and brittle with the exception of one plant type and the odd tree. Shade was limited to that from those few trees and 2 rock outcroppings.

In that environment, we couldn't help but notice the simplicity of the flora and fauna. The very limited plant life, the buzz from a  couple of bees, and we were startled when we flushed a bird out from beside the trail.

As we've travelled around the Island, we noticed a couple of wind-farms in the distance, and this trail took us to the top of one of those. It's the first time we've been close enough to a windmill to hear their whine.

We met one other group of hikers, younger, probably in their 20's with a guide, and a trail runner that overtook us on the way back down. They had come through from the other end of the trail.

The Lahaina Pali went into our treasure-trove as the first significant find in Maui.

Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2014/09/the-iao-crater-waihee-ridege-trail.html