Looking Down Into Haleakala’s Crater

Description:On the island of Maui is Haleakal?, a mountain topping out over 10,000′.

It’s tall enough that, should you drive up from sea level like almost all visitors from off-island, you get winded just walking from your car to the look out at the top.

Stay long enough and, depending on your physiology, you might feel some of the effects of mountain sickness. It’s way up there.

While this mountain does have a crater or depression at the top, it was not created from an eruption like Mount Saint Helens in Washington. Erosion, steady and constant, has worn away material and brought it down the side of the mountain toward the sea.

It can snow at the summit and when I visited the wind had a particular bite to it. While the beaches were 80°F, the summit was about 50°F with a a wind chill closer to 35°F.

In the distance are the flanks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, some 80 miles distant on the island of Hawai’i.

Location: Haleakal? National Park, Hawai’i, USA