There’s that rising anxiety that comes when you’re cresting the tracks of a rollercoaster. The slow, steady ascent that is both thrilling and terrifying. That’s what driving up a mountain feels like to me, extended over an hour or more of switchbacks and hairpin turns. We climbed from sea level in Kihei to over 10,000 feet to the Haleakala summit yesterday. My family of four in our rented white mustang convertible, though we had to put the top up before we started the real climb — the temperature drop demanded it.
I rode shotgun, with my brother behind the wheel and my parents in the backseat. And I’ll admit I’m not the easiest person to be in the passenger seat as my brother pointed out that I’ll take a breath “like it’s my last” when I get a bit too nervous. My brother is an excellent driver, but I’m a little too used to being in control that ceding it in a situation that causes me some anxiety (it’s a little too easy to imagine the car filled with my entire family tumbling down the mountainside). Of course, there was nothing to worry about — the roads were well-paved and uncrowded and we drove through the cloud layer to some truly spectacular views.
Thanks to my dad’s guidebook reading, we pulled off at a lookout point before the summit that most people blow right by. A short five-minute hike in and we had a private view of the crater at the top of the mountain that was more spectacular than we did make the summit. No roads or people in sight, the other islands in the distance, the ocean below, the sun uncovered, the air holding the kind of quiet I’ve rarely heard in my life. True, deep silence that you can lose yourself in. We all did for a while, lingering at this lookout point and soaking up the uncharacteristic warmth and windlessness. We couldn’t have chosen a better day.
At the summit, we had a makeshift picnic perched on the rock wall overlooking the mountain below, and while it’s quite a sight it didn’t compare to what we’d had all to ourselves a little earlier. Maybe it’s because there were so many people around. We are a friendly family, but we like our space. Or it could be that we could feel the biting wind as we walked the highest points of the mountain.
I drove the mustang down the mountain and what had been an hour climb felt like nothing at all. My nervousness disappeared pretty quickly now that I was behind the wheel and I enjoyed the feeling of coasting the car around the curves all the way down, down, down and home to our seaside home.
With Love,
Natalie