Join Thor and me for a visit to the stunning Haleakala summit and crater.
While we didn’t make the very twisty drive up to the summit on our recent trip, I was browsing photos from our 2012 trip, and thought I’d close out this series with those memories.
The translation from Hawaiian is “house of the sun,” and legend has it that the demigod Maui held the sun prisoner here in order to lengthen the daylight. It’s high enough at 10,023 feet for a delayed sunset!
An observatory at the top monitors satellites and debris orbiting the earth, as the skies are usually very clear up here.
The last eruption of the now-dormant volcano was around 1480-1600. The crater is, geologically speaking, an “erosional valley” 7 miles across, with large cinder cones. The colors are gorgeous, and if you drive up late in the day, you can see sunset across a blanket of lower clouds. Just remember to bring a warm jacket, as it gets pretty chilly up there.
The amazing Silversword plant is found only here, and is now endangered.
Thor and I hiked down into the crater:
The surface feels moonlike across the lava landscape.
A glimpse of the actual moon reminded us we were still on earth.
Among the lava rocks were some chunks of lighter pumice:
As geologist Thor notes, the only variety in Hawaii rocks is in the forms of lava, since it’s all volcanic. The islands are still being built by the active volcanoes.
On the drive down, we descended into the clouds that often ring the volcano. We were lucky to see two of the endangered Nene geese browsing right beside the road. We stopped, enjoying their sweet cooing voices, as they seemed not bothered by us.
These native geese had died out early in the 1900s due to various threats, but in 1946 they were reintroduced by Boy Scouts who carried them up the mountain in their knapsacks.
And now a wistful farewell to Maui, with one last dip into the sea and a visit with another of our favorite island denizens, the sweet Honu turtles. Until next time, Aloha!
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s Caribbean suspense novel from Book View Café is ISLANDS, which draws on her experiences working as a scuba divemaster on various islands, and also her research into petroglyphs. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
