Haleakala is the the main peak on the island of Maui in Hawaii, covering 75% of the island's area. Its a dormant volcano, having last erupted in 1790, possibly, depending on wherther Cook's naval charts were accurate or not. Its 3055m tall, quite impressive when the surrounds are so flat (being the Pacific Ocean), so just enough to potentially trigger some altitude issues. Certainly high enough to be freezing cold at night. We drove up early one morning having camped at the base in order to watch the sunrise and then go for a hike around the summit area. It was possibly my favourite day of the entire trip.
The moon and Venus become the last two lights in the sky as the dawn approaches.
Nearly there.
3....2.....1................
First light. Accompanied by native Hawaiian chanting and conch shell trumpeting. A pretty important site, the summit depression is home to the Grandmother of the demigod Maui (its a bit like discovering just how people there are in the Royal family when you start learning about the relatives of demi-gods). Haleakala translates as "House of the Sun" and you can see why.
The first decent view of the "crater" or is it a "caldera". Its a shield volcano, so the lavas too runny for a decent caldera. And its quite big for a crater. So what could it be?
The descent down, with some fantastic colours in the early morning light, reds, oranges, purples, browns, greys. Rather cool, and quite Martian in appearance.
Though not devoid of life. This is a silversword, a protected species that is only found towards the top of the Hawaiian volcanos. It lives for up to fifty years, flowering once before dying.
More views across the "crater" floor. Cinder cones of recent eruptions litter the top, with the steep ring wall surrounding them. This area was a lot lot bigger than it first appeared at dawn. And so awesome!!!
More views across the floor, with recent (ish) lava flows spread out like a rocky drapey thing. So what is this big depression if its not volcanic in origin? It turns out to be erosional, two large valleys that lead off each end of the depression eventually eroded through the rock wall that divided them to form the large valley at the top. It might even have been eroded through by ice during the last ice age (the volcanoes are just about high enough to get ice-caps during ice-ages). Speaking as a geologist this is really cool. Not only is this a volcanic landscape, but it might also be a glacial one too! All at less than 21 degrees North of the equator. Wow!
As we descended we moved towards the northern side of volcano and the valley that leads up from the sea. Due to the near constant trade-winds in Hawaii the wind direction is nearly always from the north-east. Being the only change in elevation for thousands of miles there's a lot of cloud and rain when the moisture-laden winds hit the side of the mountain, rise, cool and deposit their rain on the slopes of Hawaii. As a consequence, the northern and eastern sides of the Hawaiian islands are wet, lush, tropical rainforests with waterfalls and the like. The United States' wettest city is Hilo on the northern coast of Big Island. The southern and western sides of the islands are far more barren, rocky from lava flows, or just grassy where there is vegeation. A real diffrence, quite striking when you drive round the islands and the flora changes so quickly. So as we descended into the valley, the mist and cloud came up to meet us, and the place slowly but surely got more and more vegetated as we descended. But there were still rocky lava flows here and there to cross. It was quite a surreal terrain to traverse. The hike ended with a climb up the steep tracker that lead up the "crater" walls back to the rim.
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