[ Crater of Haleakala ]

As the light increased, it was easier to see the crater of Haleakala spread out before us. It was also by this time about all we could handle of standing around in the near-freezing temperatures at 10,000 feet.


[ Bicycle tour vans at Haleakala ]

We weren't the only ones there, by any means. Several hundred people showed up on the day we were there, many of them brought up by these vans, which would take most of their paying guests only a few thousand feet back towards sea level before dropping them off to bicycle down the rest of the way out of Haleakala National Park.

(The bicycle part used to start at this summit parking lot but problems between the tour operators and the park administration appears to have shifted the start line a few thousand feet down from the summit but still encompassing the majority of the hardcore moutain switchback road.


[ View of Maui from Haleakala ]

The view from the road leading back down from Haleakala encompasses a good deal of the entire island of Maui. On the right is the bay on which Kahului, the only proper city on Maui, is located (along with the island's main airport). On the left is the bay on which the Maui Ocean Center aquarium is located. Beyond that, on the opposite side of Maui's other dormant volcano, is the major hotel strip running up along the coast from Lahaina.


[ Emma likes Maui ]

Emma approves of the view.






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