Haleakalā National Park - Talk about a place that transcends from coastal forests through a drive up alpine slopes all the way to other worldly landscapes. And through time - from when Haleakalā was a land of fire to when the ancient Hawaiians visited the peak to today's ranger stations, shelters, and modern roads.

Amidst all of this contrast and amazing beauty, you find Hawaiian species found no where else in the world. Among the unique varieties are the native Hawaiian goose that tends to be found near the top of the mountain. Down inside the cinder desert, Haleakala (Silverswords) can be found. These unique plants can live for more than 50 years. They can often just flower once (on a stalk up to 2 M high). Additionally they can focus sunlight to raise the temperature of the shoot-tip leaves up 20 °C on cold days.

There are 35 miles of hiking trails that allow the exploration of Haleakala Crater, of which I just went down one for about 2.5 miles into the volcanic cinder desert. Actually the Crater isn't really a crater at all but is the eroded remains of the original volcano. The edges of the original crater are found around the top and smaller cinder cones abound in the floor of the area.

On this page I will share several panoramas with you starting near the base of the mountain (you can see another volcano in the distance), up through the clouds, an overlook near the top and then over into the crater cinder desert on the Sliding Sands Trail.

The two following pages have the series of photos taken during the drive to the top and then the hike down to one of the cinder cones within the cinder desert.