Maui, Hawaii, Haleakala National Park 1

Aloha everybody. Well I’m now residing on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii! I’m working as an SCA (Student Conservation Association) intern with the NPS (National Park Service) for the U.S. Department of Interior. My internship is in Haleakala National Park and I live at an elevation of 7,000’ in housing provided to me by the park. The volcano I am living on is actually just over 10,000’ in elevation and the road up from the base is a series of winding switchbacks and serious turns. The view is amazing, every morning as I walk to work (about a mile from housing to the Headquarters Visitor Center) I can look down the mountain and over most of the island of Maui. I can follow the shoreline along until it goes around the other volcano in West Maui and then as it picks up again on the other side and past the biggest town/city on the island: Kahului, where the major airport is.

It is not uncommon to see a series of rainbows as the saturated clouds like to hover around the elevation of where I live. Because of this, the above elevations where I commonly work is very dry and is actually considered a “cinder desert”.

The thin air at the top visitor’s center is usually very clear and I can easily make out the big island of Hawaii from the summit. I have been in training these last 5 days of work and probably have another couple weeks or so before I’m let loose to teach on my own. I have learned a TON in this short time but I feel like I have just scratched the surface. The Hawaiian culture alone is so amazing and add to that the island’s unique animals/vegetation/weather and geology… there is a lot to learn in order to sufficiently answer the public’s questions. I’m enjoying the challenge however and am enjoying the ride thus-far.

The housing is very nice here and nearly everything was provided when I moved in. I share a kitchen and living room with a cool SCA intern (Jake) who works for Vegetative Management under a different park department.

My first three days of work flew by and before I knew it I was having my “weekend” on Thursday and Friday. This will typically be my days off and already I have been making them count. On Thursday I drove down the mountain with another SCA intern whom I work with in interp. (Rebecca) and enjoyed a day at the beach: swimming, lying around in the sun, driving around and eating. Afterwards that afternoon we met up with a couple other friends and saw a few other places on the island.

There has been a lot of other things going on but they are too numerous to go into any detail… suffice it to say I have seen some amazing views, learned some fascinating information, and have had a great first week. I want to thank my family and friends who have been in contact with me one way or another and keeping me posted with what is happening back home in NY. Thanks for all the well wishes I have received as well, I am truly lucky to have such a great group of people following and supporting my travels, so Mahalo! I have created a picture album on Facebook with more than what I have posted here in this blog post so please feel free to take a look! You will have to add me as a friend to view them however as I do not let just anybody have access to my pictures. In my opinion though, these are the best of what I have taken so far so I hope you enjoy. More to come as my adventure here on Maui progresses… I have a couple training hikes and backcountry orientations coming up that I plan on documenting with photos. These will take me down into the crater and also on the other side of the island in the tropical zone so I can’t wait for that. Thanks for following and remember to check back for more to come.

I know what your thinking… and I agree… Cool Ferns!

Dug Mountain Brook Falls and West Stony Creek Falls

To continue on with my story from the previous post… I was now in Speculator (a small town in the Adirondacks) with my friends Matt and Caitlin. It was Saturday and I had spent the previous day hiking around by myself and visiting a couple of waterfalls elsewhere in the Adks.

We woke up and Caitlin made an excellent breakfast of french toast. After getting cleaned up and feasting we tied down our boats and packed some water, food, and cameras in anticipation of the upcoming paddle. The three of us had decided the night before that we were going to try and kayak/canoe our way into the access point of Dug Mountain Brook Falls located right off of Indian Lake which is north of Speculator. The plan was to go downstream along the Jessup River and reach Indian Lake from that angle… then just do the short hike to the falls after beaching the boats.

We had a very enjoyable and sunny trip downstream. We saw a lot of wildlife and didn’t have to work too hard at paddling because the water was so high and flowing at a good pace. This later proved to be a problem however. Just before entering into Indian Lake we came upon a straight stretch of river that had too many rapids to navigate around. The water was too high… I read that normally this route is easy but apparently those notes were not taken in late spring after it had been raining the whole week before. We pulled off to the side and walked around to see if we could portage along the stretch of rapids but the woods were rough and the distance too long to comfortably make it to the lake. We turned around and made the long trip back upstream fighting the current every step of the way, back to the access point off Route 30. The trip back was a bit less relaxing but I enjoyed getting some exercise and had fun regardless.

After returning home, we lounged around and ended the day by going to Caitlin’s family’s cottage that overlooks Lake Pleasant for dinner. Dinner consisted of the perfect combination: cheeseburgers on the grill, caramelized bouillon onions, Dinosaur bbq baked beans, and a beer. I had never tried Dinosaur’s beans before but they easily became my new favorite after bite number one!

As Sunday rolled around, Caitlin had plans with her yoga class for a hike in the morning so Matt and I relaxed and were pretty lazy all morning. We decided to get his boat out and get it ready for the season and so we could take it out later that day when Caitlin returned. Our new plan of attack for the Dug Mountain Brook Falls was to launch the Carolina Skiff from the DEC launch site and swing around the lake to get at our desired destination where we failed on Saturday.

We took our time and spent most of the afternoon on the lake enjoying the weather and boating around. When we entered the woods and hiked the small trail to the falls though, the bugs were so bad that breathing was difficult without swallowing a black fly or two. Therefore, we didn’t hang around long or get to enjoy the waterfalls nearly as much as I had hoped… but dinner on the boat afterwards more than made up for it. We took along Matt’s small portable grill and parked the skiff in the middle of Indian Lake where it was sunny and breezy, just daring the flies to find us offshore that far. We grilled up some marinated chicken and a healthy combination of potatoes and onions (spiced up) which came out very tasty.

Well the weekend for my friends Matt and Caitlin was over as they had to go back to work on Monday. I however left to meet a couple other friends over in Benson, New York to hike a short 3 mile stretch of the Northville Placid Trail leading to West Stony Creek Falls. I met up with Stephanie and Ted along Route 30, south of the towns of Wells and Hope and North of the town of Northville so we could find the trailhead together. We spent a few hours catching up with each other’s activities and travels, hiked into and observed the small waterfalls, and in general had a nice time.

After we parted, I made the long journey back to Florence to prepare for the next weekend’s trip to Hickory Run and Ricketts Glenn State Parks, PA. It was a great weekend in the Adirondacks with friends and I look forward to doing more when I return from Hawaii this fall!