This is the story of one of the most incredibly magical hikes I have done in my life (thusfar) and one of the most special experiences of my life: hiking the Sliding Sands Trail on Haleakalā, Maui by myself. And some safety tips on hiking by yourself in the end!
During my exchange semester on Oʻahu I met wonderful people in various places: through university, through an event called Soulday and through the app Bumble. And via these people I met even more people. We ended up gathering six of these friends, whom did not all know each other before and were from four different countries across three continents, to go on a short trip to Maui. It turned out to be a perfect friend group match and we told, heard and created so many stories! This is the story of when on one of our last days I did a hike by myself, while the others went snorkeling.
Friends that I had met in the first week on Oʻahu when I was staying in Seaside Hawaiian Hostel in Waikīkī, Honolulu had told me about the Sliding Sands Trail on Maui. It had been one of the coolest hikes they had done on the islands and was known for its extraordinary Mars landscape that made you feel as if you literally were on another planet. Right then and there I decided that if I were to go to Maui, I would make sure to do that hike.
And so when my friends preferred to go snorkeling and I wanted to do the hike, they offered to drop me off and pick me up (in our rental car) so I could do the hike regardless. My friends dropped me off at the base of mountain Haleakalā (‘House of the Sun’ in Hawaiian) where I hitchhiked my way up to the beginning of the trail. After a few cars Miguel and Leslie from Honduras stopped and took me halfway. Then it only took two cars (one of which hand-signaled that they were full so could not take me) before a very sweet older couple named Tom & Jerry from San Diego took me all the way up.
All the way up I started the 18 kilometers (11 miles) trail. The first few kilometers I met quite a few other hikers from another trail. But in the 16 kilometers (10 miles) after that I only encountered two others.
I was completely by myself. I hiked in silence and solitude. And when I say silence I mean silence. No music, no animal sounds, no wind - for the most part it indeed seemed as if I was walking on Mars. For hours the only thing I saw were craters, sandhills and pulverized lavarock which looked like an ocean of ash from afar.
After several hours of hiking, the rocky and volcanic landscape slowly merged with bits of vegetation again. The landscape ashy grey, black and brown landscape turned more colorful with every few hundred meters.
Then, as if opening a door to another universe, I entered a misty field of grass that looked like a fairy tale. Here it was is if the music of the earth was slowly starting to play again. I heard insects, saw flowers and occasionally had a little heart attack when a giant bird appeared on the trail and quickly flew away again, as surprised by my presence as I was by his.
I had started going up again and was now looking out over the Mars landscape and the grassy fairy tale fields where I had been earlier. It was still misty so I figured I must be hiking in a cloud. Then, I unsuspectedly turned a corner and walked out of that cloud. Within a split second there were tears streaming down my face. ‘What the actual f*ck’ were my first words. It felt like I had just entered heaven.
Within a split second there were tears streaming down my face.
I was up above the clouds and there were rainbows everywhere. In the photo if you look carefully you see one of them in the clouds. In reality there were MULTIPLE of these. If a unicorn would have jumped out of the clouds I would have thought ‘yes makes sense’, because that is genuinely how magical it was.
The last few km took me the longest simply because I did not want to leave. I was by myself, crying in awe of the world, in heaven where the sun was setting, eating my favourite chocolate (Honey Mama's).
But that was not the end. As icing on the cake there was a lunar eclipse that night that I got to watch from the best spot possible. Together with some other strangers I saw the moon come up. I was shivering from the cold at this point because being on a high mountain after a sweaty hike when the sun has gone down is… well quite chilly and I did not bring a jacket. But it was okay.
When I walked to the road I luckily saw a dad with two children get into his car. So I sprinted towards him and asked ‘hey can I have a ride?’ Pro tip when hitch hiking: ask a person with children. Not because it is safer (maybe also) but because the children will likely say ‘of course you can!! Right dad?’
I was dropped off in a town where I walked into a fancy Italian restaurant to order a coke and a pizza for takeaway. When my friends picked me up with the pick-up they were all cheering for me. In that moment I cried again, from joy and gratitude for what a beautiful world with beautiful people we live in!
Tips and advice when hiking alone
Doing a hike by yourself can be fun, challenging and insightful and I can highly recommend it! However, when hiking alone it is important to think about safety. Here are some basic 'rules' I follow and considerations I take into account when hiking alone:
Always make sure someone knows where you are and agree on a time and place to meet, or on a time you will contact them at the latest to let them know you are okay.
Know your way by looking up the trail beforehand, and consider buying, downloading or printing a map beforehand.
Have a phone number written down in case you somehow lose access to your phone.
Always bring a basic first aid kit in case something happens along the way.
Depending on the specific natural environment, you might need something like bear spray or a little flute.
A general rule for doing anything alone (or with other people actually): always trust your intuition and listen to your gut feeling. You know more than you think and if something does not feel right, you do not always have to be able to rationalize it to listen to it.
Last but not least: whether it is a good idea to do a hike alone will depend on the context. How dangerous is the hike; is it near cliffs, are there slippery rocks, is there snow? Is it generally safe to be alone in the region you are in; are there high chances of violence or armed robbery?
Haven taken all of these aspects into account, the biggest advice is to not let fear stop you, make it work (in a responsible way) and just do it!
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