Rising Tide Images
Cinder Landscape
Looking west from the Halemau’u Trail across the summit valley basin of Haleakalā, numerous cinder cones surrounded by fields of ash and ‘a’ā lava flows are visible. A pyrogenic landscape that looks more like the surface of Mars or the Moon than a tropical Pacific island. Minerals and metal oxides from eruptions, weathering, and erosion, color this alpine aeolian desert. This topography was formed after a rejuvenation phase beginning only 100,000 years ago and erupting as recently as 500 years ago. The Haleakalā Wilderness Area is one of the most memorable and special places I’ve ever hiked and camped. With a dark night sky and spectacular, desolate, other-worldly landscape with a few uniquely adapted endemic plants and wildlife, it is an exceptional place for contemplative solitude after a strenuous day of backpacking.
Cinder Landscape
Looking west from the Halemau’u Trail across the summit valley basin of Haleakalā, numerous cinder cones surrounded by fields of ash and ‘a’ā lava flows are visible. A pyrogenic landscape that looks more like the surface of Mars or the Moon than a tropical Pacific island. Minerals and metal oxides from eruptions, weathering, and erosion, color this alpine aeolian desert. This topography was formed after a rejuvenation phase beginning only 100,000 years ago and erupting as recently as 500 years ago. The Haleakalā Wilderness Area is one of the most memorable and special places I’ve ever hiked and camped. With a dark night sky and spectacular, desolate, other-worldly landscape with a few uniquely adapted endemic plants and wildlife, it is an exceptional place for contemplative solitude after a strenuous day of backpacking.