Into Haleakala Crater

by Heidi Fickinger

Title

Into Haleakala Crater

Artist

Heidi Fickinger

Medium

Photograph - Photographic Print

Description

Haleakalā is the dormant shield volcano that rises 10,023 feet from the surface of the ocean on East Maui. The volcano forms more than 75% of the Island of Maui and is taller than Mount Everest when measured from the ocean floor by a little over 30,000 feet. The last eruption of this dormant volcano is thought to be in the 17th century.
Haleakalā, as with all the major volcanic mountains is sacred to the Hawaiian people. The name means 'house of the sun'. In Hawaiian legenc, the crater at the summit was home to the grandmother of the demigod Māui. According to the legend, Māui's grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky in order to lengthen the day.
I have visited this magnificent mountain on many occaisons, but have never camped in the crater until July of 2018, when I spent three days hiking the crater from end to end. The journey was an incredible experience for me. Each day the crater filled with filiments of fog and mist, that hid and revealed the surreal beauty of cinder cones, vast sweeping hills of multicolored cinders, soaring cliffs and rare plants and birds. This image looking down into the craters from close to the top of the summit trail at the beginning of my journey.

Featured in the following FAA Group Galleries:
* Travel Art
* Just Perfect
* Hawaiiana
* Out of the Ordinary
* Dancing the Walls
* The Mind's Eye
* No Place Like Home

Uploaded

July 18th, 2018

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