Maui Trip - Day 5 (Part 2 of 3)

 

As the miles tick by, so does the altitude.  Some cruel soul placed an altitude marker on the road for every 1000 feet of altitude gain which serves as a gentle reminder of how far you have come and how far you have to still go.  The climb itself takes you through a series of different environments and almost separate climate zones.  It is quite amazing to experience!  The lower slopes start with grassy fields and then you progress into pine forested zones, more grass fields, some eucalyptus forests, and then progressing to more of a shrub zone up top of the volcano.

After miles and miles of many hours of climbing, the last push starts at the Haleakala National Park entrance.  This truly is just a battle of endurance at this point.

Once through the gates, there are these sweeping switchbacks that are about a mile in length for each leg, but still just continue to push upwards at a crazy pace.

About a mile into the last push, there is the Headquarters Visitor station.  I stopped to refill some water bottles and contemplated life.  It's a pretty crazy view and several people in cars that were at the station were giving me some funny looks as I rolled away in my bike.