Sliding Sands Trail

Name: Sliding Sands  Trail

Location- Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii

Roundtrip- 11 miles till camp (backpacking)

Rating- Strenuous as it starts at 10,000ft and goes downhill first. Need to be aware of the uphill climb!

This is my most favorite hike till date. As you walk amidst these dormant volcanoes, you are suddenly transported to another planet.

This is the view of Western Maui mountains (Iao Valley) as you are climbing up the Haleakala Peak.

First sight of the observatory and the peak at the Trailhead.

Are you on Mars?!

A land of wonder!

Such beautiful vistas, streaks and these are pictures from my super simple camera!

I could not get enough of the scene at hand (or leg? :P)

It is a straight 2000ft descent in about 2 miles. It is very easy to go down being lost in the beauty and serenity of the place.

When you stop to look behind, you are caught in a fix to determine which spot is the best.

The sparse vegetation.

The endangered species of the land- Silversword! They really are silver.

They look like these fuzzy balls scattered around the place. They are present at around 1.8 mile marker and nowhere else.

Proof of lava flow and solidification. When you walk on it, you have a feeling that you are part of history :)

This is very deceptive and you can go on without stopping. CAUTION: Stop! Assess the amount of distance and depth at a point and note that you have to climb back that steep ascent. At 10,000ft, the equations are totally different.

Once you are back, you cant stop looking back :)

This is a very challenging trail. It is best to backpack and walk the entire 11 miles to the camp to avoid the ascent back on the steep slope. Carry lots of water! Best part is, if you dont want to walk all the way, you can stop wherever you want and just turn back.

HAPPY TRAILS! 

Lawson and Gaskill Peak- Cleveland National Forest

After the 2 peak bagging of Cowles-Pyles, I tried my luck with another adventure to visit 2 peaks in the same hike. Lawson and Gaskill Peaks are in Cleveland National Forest, and considered a moderate hike.

The trail is not well maintained compared to the usual trails in San Diego county. We saw tyre marks throughout the path, which I presume is used by ATVs. The trailhead does not have any signs, except for a geographical co-ordinate. No designated parking either.

After a mile or so, the trail looks as above. It is green and has beautiful lookout throughout the hike.

After a while, you can see both the peaks at once- Lawson to your left and Gaskill to your right.











The trail to Lawson ends at about 0.5 mile before the summit. It is rock scrambling, bush-whacking from here on.









The peak has a chimney which is very steep. This place is used by rock climbers and luckily a samaritan had left a rope for others to climb.

After the chimney climb, we enter a cave which opens up to a beautiful lookout.

Once done with Lawson, Gaskill seems easy as there is a trail that goes all the way to the summit.

The trail might be difficult to find after a point and we just have to head in the general direction of the peak.

They have fancy rock formations like the one to the right that looks like an alien!

The view from the both the summits are worthwhile!

This hike is around 7 miles roundtrip with elevation gain of 2000 ft.

Things needed- Hiking poles, long pants and shirts (for rock climbing and bush-whacking) and 2L of water

Happy Trails! :)