Molokini

 

Molokini is one of the most popular snorkeling place at Maui. It is not along one of the beaches on the coastline, but it is further out in the ocean. Thus a boat is required to get there. Molokini is a crater and naturally have a crescent like shape to protect the people from big waves. There are also many type of fish and coral at Molokini. At Maalaea harbour, there are many boat excursions that take tourist to Molokini every morning.

We went with Four Winds for the Molokini excursion. We got to the dock around 6:30AM in the morning and the boat leaves at 7AM. There was no free parking there and payment was required there. However, although the payment machine seems to take credit card, it did not work. Once the credit card was inserted, the machine would hang and restart. We were having trouble getting a parking ticket there. Fortunately, we were able to collect some cash and the machine was still working with cash. It was a nightmare.

When we got on the boat, it was offering breakfast such as muffins and fresh fruits. We went up to the second floor to have a better view from the top. Four Winds excursion also provided snorkeling gears such as mask and fins for people. There were also few masks with optical prescription.

As we headed towards Molokini in the early morning, the ride was very smooth. We saw many flying fish at the front of the boat. They were quite small. After about an hour of ride, we finally arrived at Molokini. There were already several boats there. The water here was quite clear and we could see deep into the water.

As many people were doing snorkeling for the first time, most people were still on the boat taking some basic lessons. We went into the ocean first. The water temperature was warm enough and did not feel cold in November.

At Molokini, the water depth was around 5-7 meters. As we swam towards the rock wall with blow holes, there were even more fish around there. We could see fish with various color such as black and yellow.

As we were having fun, we noticed that many people did not seem to be able to swim. There  were wearing floating devices around their waist and carrying floating boards. We even saw a kid who seemed to have collapsed and needed to head back to the boat. We figured that he might not have been in the water with such depth.

After 1.5 hours in the water, we headed back to the boat to grab some sandwich and drinks for lunch. When the boat was heading back to the harbour, the weather was getting extremely windy. We could see the white caps on the surface of the ocean.

We also saw several humpback whales on the way back. It was just 20 meters away from the boat. The captain of the boat stopped the engine of the boat to let the whale to come closer to us. We were lucky to see the whales raising its tail and did a deep dive into the ocean. It was quite an experience.

It is best to go to Molokini in the early morning when the ocean is calm. If the weather is too windy, some boat excursion would cancel its trip to Molokini to avoid the risk. 

Kitoko Maui

 

Kitoko Maui is a food cart restaurant that serves fresh sea food dishes in bento box. It is located on the Southwest side of Maui, just North of Kihei. It is located in the gravel parking lot right beside Azeka Shopping Center. Although Kitoko Maui is a food cart type of restaurant, it has received positive reviews from its customers due to the freshness of the food it serves. Thus it is a must try for us when visiting Maui.

As soon as we got off the plane and got our rental car, we drove straight to Kitoko as we woke up quite early and have not had any real food for the day. When we got there, there were about 5 food carts there. There were not that many tables for people to sit however and there were many wild chicken and chicks running around. Some roosters were quite large.

As we walked to the front of Kitoko, we had problem trying to figure out what to try. There was a daily special on the menu which includes lobsters. We were told that the portion of the daily special can feed 2-3 people, but it was also pricy and cost around $85. We later decided to try the Marlin Bento and Grilled Kauai Shrimp. We really wanted to try the sea food here.

We got our orders after about 10 minutes. The food was served in metal bento box, which was pretty interesting. The Marlin Bento came with 4 pieces of marlin that were slightly grilled. It also had a piece of grilled rice on the side. The side dishes in the bento included seasoned greens, egg plants and pickled cabbage. The pickled cabbage was sour than what we liked. The marlin had special dressing over it which made it quite tasty and it was very fresh.

The Grilled Kauia Shrimp came with 5 pieces of shrimps placed on top of the papaya salad. The shell around the body of the shrimp was removed, but the head was still attached. We enjoyed the grilled shrimp a lot. It was very tendor.

Overall, it was a great experience and we enjoyed the food at Kitoko. We were quite worried about the chicken in the beginning as we saw some flying to the top of the table. But when we sat down, the chickens stepped away.

Haleakala National Park

 

Haleakala National Park is 1 of the 2 national parks in the state of Hawaii. It is located on the island of Maui and has been sacred to the local native Hawaiian people. The tallest point of Haleakala Summit is at around 10200ft. The summit is accessible by cars, thus it has been an extremely popular place for people to visit during the hour of sun rise. It was so popular that the national park had to implement a reservation system for people entering the park between 3AM-7AM to prevent the traffic.

We were lucky enough to get the reservation when we visited the Maui. There were about 75 reservation spots available every day. We left the hotel from Wailea around 2:30AM in the morning since it would take more than 1.5 hours to get to the top. When we got to the entrance of Haleakala National Park, there were rangers there checking our name for the reservation. We were quite surprised to see the rangers there so early in the morning.

We got to the summit by 4AM in the morning. There were already few cars there. When we got out of the car, it was quite cold but not at freezing point yet. We walked up the stairs and we could see the Haleakala Observatory on the far side. We could also see Big Island on the other side of the ocean. The Milkyway was quite dim, but we could see it.

After enjoying the stars outside for 10 minutes, we headed back to the car and drove back to the visitor center. The visitor center has the best view of the sun rise. It was only 4:30AM at this point, thus we sat in the car to wait for the sun rise hour to come. By 5AM, there were tour bus arriving with lot of people. We figured that we should get out to get a good spot. Thus we headed over to the viewing deck when it was still an hour away from sun rise. The night was cold, but luckily it was not windy.

By 6:30AM, the sun started to rise above the cloud. There were native Hawaiian people from the bus tour starting to sing the native song. It was pretty cool. After about 10 minutes, most people that came with the tour bus were starting to leave.

We took a little hike around the area and headed all the way to the top of the hill beside the visitor center. This place has an amazing view of the crater. Maybe we should have came here to view the sun rise. From here, we could see the big crater down below and have a great panorama view of the entire area.

We later also headed over to the summit again. The place definitely looked different than what it was a night. We could also see the West side of Maui island. It was really cool to be at the highest point of the island.

As we headed back down, we also stopped by the view point of Kalahaku Overlook. It has the view of the backside of the crater. The view from here was not as spectacular as the overlook at the top however.

Overall, we loved visiting Haleakala National Park. We did not do much hike here, but it was definitely a different experience. It was also our first time seeing an observatory this close. It was probably inactive when we were there, but it was still awesome to see it. Haleakala National Park is definitely a must visit place when visiting Maui.

Glacier National Park Road Trip

 

Glacier National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the United States. It is located at Northwestern Montana bordering with Canada. In fact, you can actually hike to Canada via hiking trails to Canada's Waterton Park. The unique aspect of Glacier National Park is that the lake color is emerald green. Many lakes are long and narrow carved out by glaciers. Glacier National Park is also home to many Grizzly Bears and Black Bears. Thus hikers need to carry bear spray and be extra cautious.

We drove from Portland to St. Mary by Glacier National Park early in the morning at around 5AM. We stopped by Spokane and had a quick brunch at IHOP. As we drive towards Glacier National Park, we could see the sky getting smoggy due to the forest fire in the area. It was really unfortunate. We drove through Going To The Sun's Road and the view was breathtaking. We got to KOA St. Mary Campground by 7PM in the evening. We got a small cabin and it was quite nice.

On the second day morning, we drove to Many Glaciers Hotel by Swiftcurrent Lake to wait for sun rise. We loved the view here. We then drove to Grinnell Glacier trail head to hike to Grinnell Glacier. It was a great hike and saw a grizzly bear when we came back.

On the third day, we drove to Logan Pass Visitor Center very early in the morning by 5:30AM. We had to get here early in order to get a parking space. We first did the Hidden Lake trail before the sun rise. After that we did the Highline Trail and hiked all the way to Haystack Butte. At night, we went to Wild Goose Island overlook to see if we could see the milky way. Unfortunately it was too smoggy.

On the fourth day, we drove 3 hours to Bowman Lake through Polebridge. It was a beautiful lake with wildlife around it. The deer was not afraid of us and people were having amazing time kayaking and hanging out by the lake.

Overall, we loved Glacier National Park. It was one of our favorite. The mountains and valleys carved by the glacier was just so amazing. We would definitely come back next time when the smoke is gone.

Bowman Lake

 

Bowman Lake is a beautiful lake located within Glacier National Park. It is not as well known as other Glacier National Park places due to its remote location. Bowman Lake is located at Northwest of Glacier National Park and can be accessed by taking the rough road through Polebridge. There were campgrounds there for first come first serve. Although Bowman Lake is at a remote location, it is perhaps one of the most beautiful lake within Glacier National Park.

We drove to Bowman Lake early in the morning from St. Mary. It was a long drive and took about 3 hours. The road from Apgar Visitor Center to Polebridge was either having construction or unpaved gravel road. Thus we couldn't drive fast. As we got to Polebridge, the road became every more rough and had to drive slowly. As we get closer, there was actually a ranger station at the entrance collecting the park fees. Luckily we had National Park Annual Pass. From the entrance to Bowman Lake, it was still about 6 miles away. The road was still rough, but definitely drivable. It took us another 20 minutes to drive to Bowman Lake.

We got to Bowman Lake around 9AM in the morning. It was still early in the morning and the lake was so calm and quiet. The only issue was that there was smoke all over the place and we couldn't see far. Beneath the lake, we could see the colorful red rocks under the water. It was pretty cool. The bird around the lake did not seem to be afraid of people either. These birds came really close to us.

As we sat there and skipping rocks on the lake surface, a deer showed up and came by the lake shore. It was not afraid of people either. It had beautiful golden fur skin and was drinking water by the lake shore. It actually came really close to us when we were just sitting there. We could have touched it if we wanted to. It was really a great experience where human and animals can live in harmony.

We brought our camping chairs and sat by the lake for a while. As the day went by, many people came to the lake to do kayaking and paddle boarding. Everyone was enjoying the lake. We also heard several wolf howls when we were there.

We definitely want to come back here to Bowman Lake again in the future when there is no smoke. We could really see the lake to be extremely beautiful when the day is bright and clear.

Highline Trail

 

Highline Trail is one of the most amazing trail within Glacier National Park. It was simply beautiful. The trail goes from Logan Pass to "The Loop" and is 11.5 miles long. People usually hike from Logan Pass to "The Loop", then take the shuttle bus back. Since now the shuttle bus requires reservation, most people just go half way to Haystack Butte and turn back.

We started the hike around 7:30AM after visiting Hidden Lake. The trail starts off across the road from Logan Pass Visitor Center. When we started the trail, we noticed the the trail was essentially going around the cliff side of the mountain. The first half mile of the trail take people right by the cliff with vertical drop on 1 side and cliff on the other. The trail was about 2 feet wide. It might sound scary, but the trail was actually wider than we initially thought. There were also cables along the trail that people can hold onto.

The trail continued down the mountain side and we could see the highway road just below us. It was quite cool to hike along side the mountain and also see the mountain peaks surrounding us. The trail was essentially going down hill for the first 2 miles and so it was quite easy. Initially we were concerned about bears, but then we were thinking that bears would not come all the way to the cliff side.

After about 3 miles, we were right below Haystack Butte. We had a quick break here before we started climbing up to Haystack Butte. It was uphill heading to Haystack Butte, but it was not difficult. When we got to Haystack Butte, it was simply beautiful. There were several large granite rocks around the area sitting on the green grassy land. We were also at the highest point of Highline Trail and we could see everything beneath us.

We then went further down the trail and then we suddenly saw animal poop on the ground. We had a look at it and noticed that it had berries in it. We were worried that it could be bear poops and it was still quite fresh. Then we had a look at the trail ahead and saw the it was all down hill from here and we did not want to hike all the way back up. Thus we decided to turn back and headed back to trail head.

Overall, we enjoyed the hike. If the weather was not smoggy, it would have been even better. Nevertheless, the smoggy weather did not stop us enjoying the scenery.

Hidden Lake

 

Hidden Lake is an iconic scenery at Glacier National Park. It is located at the heart of the park, right by Logan Pass Visitor Center. The trail from the visitor center to the overlook is about 1.5 miles long. To get down to the lake side, it is about another 1 mile. Most people just hike to the overlook since heading down to the lake has high risk of bear encounter. So bear spray is a must when hiking this trail.

Since this is a very popular trail, we got to Logan Pass Visitor center around 6AM in the morning. The sunrise was at 6:30AM, so it was still twilight in the sky. Since the weather is quite smoggy, it felt darker than usual. As we started hiking, we were quite nervous as well because it was dark and we could not see very far to spot any bear if there was any. We were also the only people on the trail. As we hiked further for another 10 minutes, we ran into 3 girls sitting on the board walk waiting for the sun rise. They seemed quite cold and had blankets covering themselves.

The trail to the overlook was quite easy since it was just walking on the board walk. There were also a lot of wild flowers blossom along the side. It was quite nice. We got to the overlook around 6:40AM and the view was beautiful even though there was a lot of smoke. As we enjoyed the view, we saw a white furry animal climbed up the cliff. We were not sure what that was but it looked like a white monkey.

We did not head down to the lake since we wanted to do some other hike. As we headed back to the parking lot, there was stream of people on the trail. It was crazy. When we got back to the parking lot around 7AM, it was completely full. There were many cars circling around the parking lot but no one was going to leave this early.

It was unfortunate that the weather was quite smoggy due to the forest fire, but we still enjoyed the view on the trail. We definitely recommend to get to Logan Pass super early in the morning just to secure a parking space.

Grinnell Glacier

 

Grinnell Glacier Trail is located within Glacier National Park in Montana. It is located at the West side of Glacier National Park. The trail to Grinnell Glacier is about 11 miles round trip with come elevation gains. It is also one of the most popular hiking trail in the area and the parking area gets full very quickly even at 7AM in the morning. This trail is also known to have a lot of bear sightings, thus hiker need to be extra cautious when hiking this trail.

We got to Grinnell Glacier Trail head by 7AM and the parking lot was already full. We had to park the car on the side of the road and there was a ranger arranging the cars. We were surprised by how early people get here.

The first part of the trail goes through thick woods and we were quite nervous. We could see berry bushes along the side of the trail and there were thick vegetation on the side. It was a place where bear could show up at any time. We were paying attention to our surrounding and had our bear spray ready. Luckily nothing happened and we moved forward. As we got to Lake Josephine, there was a boat docking there. Lake Josephine was beautiful in early morning. The lake surface was so calm. We stayed there for a bit just to enjoy the moment.

The trail then started to climb a bit at the top of the hill. We could see the lake beneath us and we also caught up to many groups of hikers. This made us more relaxed since we were in a larger pack of people.

Although the weather was hazy, we could still see the beautiful mountains along the trail. We also saw Grinnell Lake beneath us with beautiful emerald color. We really loved it. Then the trail moved forward and there was a stream of water flowing cross the rocky trail. The rocks were soaked by water and the trail was very slippery. This was the part where every hiker needs to be very cautious and make sure not to slip. There were hikers even taking a bath here to cool down the body temperature.

The last part of the trail was climbing on man made rocky stairs. This was the worst part. We hated walking on these stairs because each step was quite high. After about 0.4 miles of walking on the stairs we finally made it to Grinnell Glacier. There were large chunks of ice in the lake and the color of the lake was beautiful emerald color. The area around the glacier was quite cold. We could feel the cold breeze blowing across the glacier. Although the day was hot, it was still cold there.

As we drove back, we saw a big grizzly bear just on the side of the road. It was using its paws to collect the berries from the bush and put it in its mouth. It was our first time seeing a real grizzly bear and we were quite excited.

Overall, Grinnelle Glacier Trail is an amazing trail. It has great scenery and a path to be right by the real glacier. The glacier is shrinking however, but we could still see its beautiful landscape.