Haleakala National Park May 10th Holua

I have not stayed at a cabin in the crater in many years. When I first arrived on Maui I tent camped all the time at Holua and Paliku. One year in the early 90's I spent over 60 days camping in the crater that year. Well it is time to make sure I take advantage of the incredably beatuful National Park in my backyard. I was invited by Annette for 3 nights. Two nights at Paliku followed by a night at Holua. I would be hiking and 4 other ladys would be on horseback. I tried to get my horses in shape for the adventure but we were not able to get up to a fitness level needed and the Tucker western saddle I had purchased a month earlier had not arrived. I can gaurentee it will arrive when I am in the crater. The gals horses would carry the 2 meals I was assigned which ment my pack was a fairly light 18 lb. They set out early from Haiku at 9am. Darcy picked me up at 9:30. We stopped at the rangers head quarters to view the required wilderness video and get our red permit tags for our paks. Here we found there had been a mix up in cabins. We would have Holua first followed by 2 nights at Paliku. I did a rapid trail distance calculation and had darcy drop me along side the road outside the 8,000 Halemau trail head. This is a short 3.9 mile hike verse a 7.0 mile hike down sliding sands. The trail head was shrouded in mist. I started down at around noon. I was feeling like a bionic woman. ACL knee brance on the L, neopreme knee brace on the right. Back brace and double walking poles. It was perfect hiking weather. A few couples were heading up the trail after their day adventures. before long I was at the bottom with one mile to go. Just shy of 2:30 I arrived at Holua. Memories of all the fun times I had shared here with friends and my sisters all flitted across the movie screen of life. At 3:30 the rest of the gang, looking like Australian outback riders in their oilskin dusters arrived saying how cold they were. I had wanted to have a fire roaring in the stove for their arrival but my plans were thwarted with only 2 logs present. Enough for a few hours heat at best. "What do you mean there are no logs"? Thank goodness a recent addition of a double burner propane stove was present. We would have hot meals. My thinsulate ski pants, down jacket and ski cap came in handy. It felt like the 40's. The horses are taken up the short hill and released "freedom" as they skip across the pasture, tails flagged high. I swap dinner's with Leslie and cook my Portugee Bean soup. I think it was well recieved. Portugeese bean soup: I can red kidney beans, 1 can garbanzo beans, I can white beans -(removed from cans and put in zip bags) 1 onion, I green bell pepper, 2 carrots, 1 bay leaf (chopped and sealed prior to departure) 5 chicken and apple sausages thin sliced.(from Costco) 1 can chopped tomatoes. 1/2 shredded cabbage added toward end of cooking. ( shredded and sealed prior to departure) Multigrain GF chips as a side dish. Served 5, could serve over rice for more people, or add more tomatoes, carrots,cabbage and beans. The stars were brilliant. So many you could hardly make out the constellations. The clifs behind the cabin echoed with the O'U's plantive night crys. The night seemed quite long with a moon appearing later during the night. I was debating if I should go on to Paliku. Could I make the trek out the last day, 10.3 miles up hill? I had only hiked out from Paliku once or twice before 20 years prior and recalled it was not fun. Should I just go home? "BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT"! seemed to fill my mind. YES, that is it. I did the healing codes and asked for God to lighten my step. Woo hoo I was energized! After breackfast and cleaning the cabin I left at 9am when Darcy said Go! The gals were up at the pasture bringing in their horses. It was a beautiful clear day! 7 miles to hike. In no time Holua was a speck on the western horizon. The trail was easy and wide. Before I knew it I was at the colorful Pele's paint pot. I had hopped to reach here before the horses to try and photograph them coming through here. They were not in sight, so I took a long arm shot of myself and seemed to dance down the trail. Awesome!