A day at Haleakala'

A day we had wanted coming back to Maui,

to head up to Haleakala' with dad.

looking up to the crater

We parked at Hosemer's Grove.  The campsite dad found

as he made his way out of the rainforest to being found.

We began our walk.

My dad walked across this uneven, hole filled field in the dark.

It was staggering to realize how perspective is everything.

He was so turned around and in such a different spot

on the mountain than he thought he was...

but it is hard to see in the dark.

 

It is at this point he left the National Forest

and ended up in the Rain Forest, more and more

disoriented to where he was.  The fence

ended and in the dark there was no way of

seeing after a ravine, the fence line picked

back up and would have led him straight to

Hosmer's Grove in about 20 minutes.  Instead,

he spent hours and hours searching for a way out.

This is the place he believed he fell.

This is the other side of the rock wall, we just tried to

make sense of that far of a fall and how he could have

walked away from that descent.  But he found his water

bottle in that pond in his visit to the site.

It felt like a sacred spot.  We just sat for a bit.

We ate some food and just lingered a bit.

A picture of God's mercy.

 

 

We shared such a special day together.  Hard to put into words.

To experience such a depth of emotion and then be at the spot

that almost took my dad from us was sobering.  To think about

the power of dark and light.  To think about perspective.

To know God answered my dad's prayer.

He answered my prayer.  Bring him home.

He did.

After walking the fence line towards Hosmer's Grove and my dad

realizing how close he could have been, we were blessed with this

beautiful rainforest.  A treat.

Hosmers Grove.

The spot we had heard was the headquarters for the search.

Had to take dad to shave ice to celebrate such a good day of Homecoming!

Such a special day!