Balabanova All Over

Archives

[Hana, Haleakala National Park & Kihei, HI, Nov 23, 2022] I originally planned to go back to central Maui the way I came, through the Road to Hana. I just assumed that the road dead-ended past Hana and it didn’t complete a full loop around east Maui, which would not be all that unusual for Hawaii. But I needed to go past Hana to visit the Kipahulu unit of Haleakala National Park,… Read More

[Haleakala National Park / Makawao, HI, Nov 21, 2022] Unfortunately, not only did the bad weather at the Haleakala summit hold, it got worse. At dinner last night, as I was refreshing the web cam yet again, I noticed a wind advisory for the summit pop up. 30 to 40 mile-per-hour winds with wind gusts up to 50 mph! Yikes! It didn’t look good, but I decided to rely on the live… Read More

[Haleakala National Park / Kula, HI / Paia, HI, Nov 20, 2022] My first full day on Maui began with one of the most quintessential experiences on the island – watching sunrise at Haleakala National Park. I had made my reservation for the park 2 months in advance, as is required for anyone entering the park between 3 am and 7 am every day of the year. Sunrise was supposed to happen… Read More

[Estes Park / Rocky Mountain National Park, Jul 30, 2022] Finally, the day this entire trip was centered around arrived. It was time to run 13.1 miles in Estes Park, just outside Rocky Mountain National Park. The only problem? We were all tired from all the hiking, and severely undertrained! And with the course being at altitude with significant amount of elevation gain for 3 miles straight, we were in for a… Read More

[Rocky Mountain National Park, Jul 29, 2022] The crappy weather the day before turned our hiking plans around quite a bit. We did not intend to hike a strenuous 10.5-mile hike the day before our half marathon, but we didn’t have much of a choice. The hike to Sky Pond is one of the most popular ones in the park. Sky Pond is the ultimate destination but there are three more lakes… Read More