Hiking the summit of an active volcano...

The highest peak on Maui, Haleakala, soars 10,000 feet above sea level and is an active volcano. Granted, it hasn't erupted in 200 years but, in the life of a volcano, that's not very long. On Tuesday morning we got up really early and drove almost two hours to the summit to take in a clear view of the island before clouds rolled in. It was spectacular. Within the rim of the enormous crater at the top of the volcano there are several huge cinder cones which have been somewhat worn by erosion; we hiked a long way down into the crater to get closer to the cones. The trail was deceiving, though. Our destination didn't look very far away but the landscape was so desolate and void of vegetation that the actual distance was much farther than it seemed to the naked eye. We were beat when we made it back to the car but were rewarded by realizing we were above the cloud line and had to drive back down through the clouds to get down the mountain. It was fantastic and vast and beautiful.