Hawaii, Maui, Haleakala National Park

Being a recreation and leisure studies major in college, I've always enjoyed national and state parks. Hawaii has so many national parks to enjoy! On our way into Hana (after the long drive) we stopped at Waianapanapa State Park.

We walked to the Waianapanapa Caves where legend has it that a king once murdered his wife when she was hiding from him. Every year, millions of shrimp come in and turn the water red which the legend says it a testimony to this tragedy.

The black sand beach was gorgeous!

I was here!

We were able to walk into this cave and watch the waves come in.

Then we climbed through a space in the rocks and sat on the outside of the cave. The waves sounded like thunder when they crashed into the cave. The sound reminded me of Thunder Hole at Acadia National Park.

We loved using my Gorillapod on this trip! I recommend it to anyone!!

The next day we headed to the coastal side of Haleakala National Park but on the way we drove by this beautiful waterfall so we had to stop to take pictures!

Here's a great group shot!

Val found a path that led down to the waterfall where we saw a man and his son jump in and swim under the waterfall. We decided that we should too so we all (except Mrs. Anne) jumped into the FREEZING cold water and swam under and next to this beautiful waterfall. For my next trip to Hawaii (hint, hint Josh...), I want to buy a waterproof camera so that I can take it with me under the waterfall. Kimberly and Val were able to get some amazing pictures with theirs!!

We finally made it to the park.

On the way to the seven sacred pools, we wandered off the path a little and saw breathtaking views of the coast and the lava rocks.

On our way back to the path, Mrs. Anne slipped so Kimberly and Val stayed with her to rest for a while. Amber and I kept going to the pools.

In order to swim in the highest pool, we had to hike/climb around and over rocks along the side of the pools. Some spots were very narrow to walk by like this place Amber is right here...

The view from the highest pool was worth the hike though and we were able to climb up and sit behind this waterfall! Next time I will have my waterproof camera to take pictures of the view.

Here is proof that we swam!

Mrs. Anne actually sprained her ankle and we found out after we hiked back to where we left them that she needed to be checked out at the hospital just in case so we spent the afternoon close to our rental house checking out a swimming pool across the street from us.

The next morning, we woke up around 1:30 am so that we could drive up to the summit and watch the sunrise! The road to Hana is not as fun and scenic this early in the morning when we know that we are on a time schedule. I helped us pass the time by suggesting road trip games to play :)

We made it on time and the summit was packed with people wanting to see the sunrise. It was absolutely freezing out there! I was wearing two pairs of pants, a t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt AND had a blanket wrapped around me and was still shivering! I didn't think any place in Hawaii could be that cold but there are a few!