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In order to expand our horizons we thought we would do a pre-drive for our "Red Planet" Drive next year.
It became immediately noticeable that the first problem was the lack of roads here.
Although the scenery is spectacular!
OK, well actually these are all photos of Haleakala Crater here on Maui. Haleakala is a huge volcano - one of two that make up the island of Maui. This thing is huge. The mountain top is 10,030 feet above sea level - about the same height as Mt. Hood. However it is very wide - it would take dozens of Mt. Hoods in width to equal this monster.
Another one of those "things to do before I die" is to watch the sunrise from Haleakala. Now since sunrise is at 5:50am, that requires you to get up at 2:30 am. But here the fun begins!
You drive from sea level up to over 10,000 feet to the sunrise lookout area. That’s 38 miles of twisty, winding roads. And, of course you do it all in the dead of night. There are about 60 curves and switchbacks that are 15 and 20 mph curves. We lost track there were so many.
The sunrise is definitely worth it though. Here is the sequence that takes place over about 1 hour.
It begins with a gradual lightening of the sky.
Then a spot of liquid gold on the horizon.
And finishes with what looks like a nuclear explosion.
All morning we were saying “this would be a great drive for the group”. Spectacular scenery and miles and miles of twisties. Of course we know Paul and Elizabeth wouldn’t be joining us (actually they would probably drive up the night before and camp out – waiting for us to arrive).
The road down is just as much fun as the drive up. However it is not for the faint of heart! Now you get to see what you missed coming up.
On the right you have the mountain. Then the road. Then….nothing but the clouds 6,000 feet below!
The ocean below:
And here is a road sign you don't see very often:
Lots of great curves heading down. One of the “problems” for this drive down is that your brakes can overheat, so you are advised to drive down in “low gear”. That wouldn’t bother Marc, but it might the rest of us!
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After returning to sea level we proceeded to drive around the perimeter of the upper part of the island. This took us on even more twisties – this time on a one-lane road through rural Maui.
5 MPH curves. Yeah, RIGHT!
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It was a little overgrown in places:
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So there you have it – the makings of a couple of great drives over here. Top down weather (all the time)! What’s not to like? And we have seen an S2000 every day since we've been here (all different). So we should be able to put together a nice drive with the locals.
All I have to do is figure how to get everyone and their cars over here. Let’s see…. How much would it be to lease a cargo container…..? (I guess we’ll have to wait on the Mars drive for a couple of years.)
Those are some incredible pictures! What kind of car were you driving on those roads?
Ugh! It's a Ford Focus . . . again.
If this thing is Ford's idea of competing with the Honda Civic, they've lost the battle.
This is the second Focus we've been stuck with for a rental lately and both of them are !
They both have had a scraping noise coming from the front end - its so loud you can't hear the radio at times! The first time I thought it was bad front bearings, but both cars have been the same.
So, we "drove it like we stole it" on those roads.
We visited Maui in 2002 and drove up the same roads. We drove a Mustang convertible (cough) 700 miles in 8 days there, especially on such a small island. We hope to visit again soon.
06-06-2010, 10:36 PM
A pre-drive to MARS!
and Debbie 
! 
