Maui - Haleakala

Haleakala looms ten thousand feet over the island of Maui. Its summit is another world, quite unlike the world at sea level below. Even the air is different, thinner, cooler and drier. There are strange plants and birds up there, and the crater itself, full of shifting sands, is so immense it is hard to make sense of the view.

The rocky land near the summit

A silversword - one of the many strange plants

A view into the crater which is big enough to swallow Manhattan

Another silversword

The crater again - Is that 42nd Street down there?

We aren't sure of what this plant is.

Another view

A nene, a flightless goose

This is lower country, maybe 8,000 feet, and much more humid.

A wonderfully scented flower

More of a rain forest on the lower slopes