Granite Cliff Studio

One of the famous sayings in the midwest is, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute.” Well, in comparison on Maui, if you don’t like the weather, just take a drive for twenty minutes. What’s great about here is you can go from sea level and sunny to 5,000 feet elevation and cloudy with rain. The microclimates are what make these islands so special. My favorite area is between 4000-7000 feet on the slopes of Haleakala. The endemic trees attract endemic birds and you have a beautiful unique habitat. In this environment, birds like I’iwi , the ‘Apanepane, Parrotbills, Finches and Warblers thrive here. These birds are in constant movement and feed on the nectar of flowering shrubs.

One of my first experiences, with Hawaii’s forest birds, was a two night stay at Paliku cabin. I was able to spend a whole day above the cabin in the thick native forests. The clouds are like poetry, moving in and out with the wind. The only sounds are playful birds and drops of rain. Nature is at its most innocent here. No predators, no pollution and mostly no people. The energy of the birds, wind and water is fun, they chose this place as their home and control the feeling. The feeling is humility and you realize society has no importance here. On this occasion, I was with a good friend, and we spent the day admiring the peace of this sanctuary.

It is rare for storms in Hawaii but on this day there was a thunderstorm coming from the south. Paliku cabin faces the south and there is a large gap between a couple of mountain peaks. As this day was coming to an end, unknowing to us, heavy flooding was happening below in Kihei. What we did become aware of, a great storm was happening as a large clap and then a rumble echoed in the crater. What was so different about this experience was that we were above the storm. A feeling like the god, Zeus, as if we were witnessing the lightning bolts being thrown down to the Earth. The thunder continued for hours and entered the crater from the southwest and slowly rumbled around the crater. It felt as if you could follow the sound in a circle. The sun was setting and now was dark, the rain stopped and all became quiet. What a 48 hours.

There have been a handful of spiritual experiences in my life where nature has taken over and showed me what is really important. This was one of them.

Just above the clouds is the ideal habitat. One of the things that threaten these endangered birds is, malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes. Most of these birds lived all throughout the islands but with development their habitat has shrunk to high elevations.

It is important that we help protect these environments. The Friends of Haleakalā offers volunteer programs. Mostly, getting rid of invasive species which push out important plants for these habitats to continue to exist and support the wildlife here. Join me in doing our part. Mahalo nui loa!