House of the Sun

Haleakalā (which means house of the sun) is a volcano that makes up 75% of Maui. After browsing through the photos below, you’ll see it was aptly named. At it’s tallest point, it reaches 10,023 feet in the air! Once you’ve summited, you’re above cloud level, making it the perfect location to watch the sunrise like you’ve never seen it before.

To get to the top of Haleakalā, you first must drive through the national park surrounding it. The drive is a beautiful one, that is unless you’re trying to get there before the sunrise and it’s pitch black. We woke up at 3am to start our assent. The stars were so bright and the air was chilly. Slowly, the entire sky began to lighten into soft tones, until that wonderful moment when the ribbons of the sun began to pour over the clouds. The stark volcanic rock and sweeping landscapes all highlighted by the cotton candy colored sky is something I’ll never forget. I felt like I was at the very tip-top of the world and I never wanted to come down.