Haleakala Backpacking Trip

Well, we survived our hike! I'm way too exhausted and sore to go into detail now (I'll do that tomorrow). But here's a slideshow of the pics. It was amazing!! The pictures really don't do it justice - hiking inside a volcano is unreal. You don't realize how vast the crater really is until you're down there in the middle of it. The hike was an ass-kicker!!! 12 miles total over 2 days. The first day was all downhill on Sliding Sands Trail - and it really was a trail of black and red sand and very steep. We started at 8:30 Saturday morning and arrived at Holua Cabin (about 7 miles later) around 3:00. After a long, mostly sleepless night thanks to both the cold and my husband's snoring (as well as my Mom's), we set out around 7:45 this morning on Halemau'u Trail (Switchbacks as the locals call it). This time it was all UPHILL!! We made it to our car around 10:00 this morning and couldn't wait to get home and take a shower!! My calves and butt are killing me - I can barely walk!!! Also, I missed Dean - who did GREAT his first night away from Mom. My Grandma and Dad stayed at our house with him and they said he did just fine. So that was more detail than I intended. Here are the pics...