Hawaii!: Haleakala

Click here for more photos of Haleakala

In the Hawaiian language there are oft repeated small words that make up parts of many larger words. Wai is often used in place names because it means water and water is a vital part of Hawaiian culture. Hence Waikiki, Wailula, Waipio etc. Hale is another one of those words. It means home, and in the case of Maui's enormous volcano, Haleakala means "home of the sun".

Took this photo from the gate of our flight from Maui.
The vastness of Haleakala makes it difficult to photograph.

Like all the Hawaiian islands, Maui is built from volcanoes. In this case, two connected volcanoes rose from the sea floor and are connected by a low lying valley. If one looks at a map of Maui one can easily see that it appears to be two connected islands. The east "island" is, by far, the larger of the two thanks to the vastness of Haleakala.

We decided to take the long (3 hour) drive from Hana to the summit of Haleakala one beautiful day and it was worth the drive. It isn't really a steep mountain but the road switches back over and over as the car ascends. It's quite the experience to begin in a tropical rainforest, drive through dry alpine meadows, rise over the tree line and reach the alpine summit at over 10,000 ft in elevation.

Gaining elevation and looking west toward the smaller Maui volcano

Beneath the clouds

Above the clouds looking west again

The crater at last!

From the summit one gazes into a vast, dry crater. We were told that the crater can hold Manhattan Island inside. I'm not sure about that, but it is amazing and it reminded me of the vastness of the Grand Canyon. Distances are not easy to understand. The scene looks exactly like the photos being sent from the Rover on Mars.

There are many more photos, including photos from the other end of the national park (by the Seven Sacred Pools) available from the link above.