The Haleakalā Volcano

The alarm buzzes at 3:00 a.m.  Immediately, there's an evident sense of time's ticking.  It's silent as everyone hurries to dress and pack their sacks.  You open the front door and suddenly stop, seized by the frigid cold of the dark black night.  Still no one has said a word.  The stars above pulse with immediacy.  Everybody moves briskly and assumes their positions in the car.
The loud engine starts the conversation, and again silence takes over as you head on your way.  At the gas station you stand still in the quiet cold, everyone's stare frozen at you through the window.  You're on your way again.
Drive out east for 2 hours.  Brave the roads that traverse unlit territory.  Feel the reluctant heave of the car as it begins its ascent.  Follow the winding road, left, right, left, that continues for almost an hour.  The motion stirs the excitement inside of you.  Your headlights are the only thing keeping you from falling over the dark edge.

You're at the top.
Wind, silence, cold, still, dark, then finally Light.
Every moment of the sunrise shines a new palette of colour onto the landscape.  It's breathtakingly beautiful.

Hint: click the first photo to enter the photo viewer.

They say Haleakalā is viewed as standard for silence.

Looking backwards, the sunrise is reflected behind the West Maui Mountains.

And you're incandescently happy.

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com