On Moloka'i the sunrise first strikes the rocky headland of Mount Kamakou, which at just under 5,000 feet in elevation is the highest point on the island. The peak is high enough to catch a good amount of moisture from the trade winds, so the East End is the wetter part of the island. 

The 5th largest Hawaiian Island, Moloka'i consists of less than 400 square miles of dry land and a population of approximately 7,500 souls. 

When the setting sun touches the horizon off the "West End" of Moloka'i, it floods the sky with silent glory. This atmospheric dazzle sprawls over a hushed and open landscape.

Like a Gettysburg battlefield or an Anasazi cliff dwelling, the national park at Moloka'i's Kalaupapa Peninsula tells a rich and important story about being human. 

There are two principal ways to get to the island of Moloka'i. Most visitors fly into Ho'olehua Airport, located in the central part of the island. 

Moloka'i is a great place to kayak. The ocean is amazingly calm due to the reef – a natural wall that wraps more than thirty miles of this coastline. 

Moloka'i is a place with a land-and-sea-based subsistence economy. Most people live mainly by farming, fishing, hunting, swapping goods and helping each other out. 

Moloka'i has no chain motels with flashing "vacancy" signs, nor does it have a single lush resort with parking attendants poised at the porte-cochere.