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Mt. Haleakala
Haleakala,
whose name translates as "house of the sun," is the largest
dormant volcano in the world. Not yet extinct, it is expected to erupt
sometime in the next 200 years (it last erupted in 1790).
One of the more popular touristy
things to do on Maui, is to drive to the top of Mt. Haleakala, to see the
sunrise over the mountain. At the summit, there were around 150 people who braved the early morning and freezing temperatures to see the
sunrise. It was 30 degrees at the summit at 6 am. We left from
Wailuku, and it took us 2 hours to get to the top. The sunrise was
cool, but a little anti-climactic after hearing all about it.
This is another shot of Mt.
Haleakala. It is pretty barren up there.
Another real popular touristy
thing to do is to take a group tour to the summit to see the sunrise in vans, then bike the whole way down the mountain. From top to
bottom is around 20 miles. I saw over 100 crazy people doing
this. I can't say if it was fun or not, because I didn't do it, but
I was in no mood to bike down a mountain 20 miles in 30 degree
temperatures. These people are wearing layer's of clothes, and as
they descended down the side of a narrow mountain, they peel layers off, and
put them in the van. If you are crazy enough to do this, you need to
wear gloves, or your hands will freeze off.
There are plenty of pull-off's for
cars, on the way down Mt. Haleakala, where you have breath taking views of
Maui. Maui is actually 2 volcano formations, joined by a
valley. You can see the valley below, with the other volcano
formation in the distance, and the ocean on either side.
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