Haleakala - Day 2 - Paliku

We woke up at 5:50 am to a beautiful sunset on Day 2, had some breakfast (oatmeal) and headed out towards Paliku cabin which was 3.3 miles away.

We saw more plant diversity on this day than any other.

We met a solo woman hiker and a couple as we were getting close to the cabin.  They had spent the nite camping in the same area as our cabin and they were hoping to hike out before the rain hit.

This was my favorite plant - it was called something that translated into nene poop because they eat the berries of this plant and then they have poop the same color.

This was one of my favorite plants from the whole trip

Went to the outhouse and there was a nene waiting for me!

Sunrise on day 3

When we arrived at the cabin, we met up with a ranger and two volunteers who were counting nenes and baiting traps to catch rats and mongoose who eat the nenes and their eggs.  We were there right as nesting season was starting but unfortunately didn't see any babies.  But we did climb into the bushes to look for the traps!

After we got settled in, we took a hike about a mile and a half DOWN the mountain to see what we could see!  We just get seeing more and more ledges and kept saying, let's go a little farther!  We finally sat down and had a snack and chatted for awhile before heading back up the hill.  This was the hardest day for me.  Although it was a short mileage day (about 6.5), I was beat from the downhill hike the day before and not sleeping that nite due to altitude sickness which always give me insomnia (which is why I saw the guy with the headlight at 3:30 am!)

The great mystery of Haleakala continued in the second cabin...when we got there, there was a purple sleeping bag and pillow left behind from some previous visitor!  Seeing as you are supposed to take all your stuff with you when you go, we concluded that it was probably the sleeping bag of the person murdered by the guy with the headlamp!  Bom bom bom bommmm!