Haleakala Volcano

In Maui, we took a day trip to Haleakala National park to drive up 10,000+ feet to the top of a volcano. Neither Ross nor I had ever visited a volcano. We drove 39 miles up to the top, winding our way through a bunch of switchbacks. The drive was tiring in a car, hard to imagine the handful of bikers we saw going UP the mountain. Crazy. Maybe next time... I'll have to get acclimated to that altitude first-- I really noticed a shortness of breath up that high.

Driving up the mountain. We just broke through the clouds!

Above the clouds, on our way to the first overlook into the volcano.

Inside the crater! The walls have been eroded away because it's been so long since Haleakala erupted. The weather is drastically different on either side of the mountain. Here we can see the "wet" side, where most of the clouds get trapped.

This is the least I've sweated to "summit" a mountain :)

At the highest point looking down into the crater. Beautiful and breathtaking (literally)!

It was crazy to see the clouds just climb up into the sky vertically when they hit this part of the mountain which seems to act like a ramp.

Hiking down into the crater valley.