Hawaii
November 5-28, 2011
hawaii - november 7
Mount Haleakelā and the Cloud Forest Hike
Haleakalā Summit
For the afternoon we explored all the various lookouts along the road between the campground and the summit. We learned a lot about the geological history of Maui and Haleakala in particular. We also discovered a bit about the various species of plants and animals that live on the mountain. You pass through as many ecological zones on a two hour drive to the summit of Mt. Haleakala as you would on a journey from Mexico to Canada! The isolation of Hawaii along with a wide variety of habitats, has resulted in a high incidence of endemic species. Scientists estimate that, before humans arrived, one new species came to Hawai'i about once every 10,000 years. Today, people bring about 20 new alien species to the islands each year, severely affecting native plants and animals and making extinction all too common in present-day Hawai'i.
Lunch time Hawaiian style... Sausages (pineapple) and potato chips (Luau BBQ).
The birds are hoping to get some lunch crumbs.
A golden plover, also known as a Kōlea (Pluvialis fulva).
An amakihi (Hemignathus virens).
An amakihi and the lesser known "I'm-a-cutie"... both about to take flight. ;-)
The kids get their activity books checked for their junior ranger badges.
Nene crossing!
Summit signs warn visitors of the effects of thin air. With less oxygen you can develop "altitude sickness" - nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches.
The kids at the Pu'u 'Ula'ula lookout.
No molten lavas have issued from the mountain since about 1790. Erosion, now the dominant force, is gradually wearing the aging volcano down. The 'crater' we see today is not of volcanic origin. Rainwater coursing down the slopes and out the gaps has carried away millions of tons of volcanic rocks through the ages, leaving behind an expansive, steep-walled erosional depression. During a period of renewed volcanic activity, lava flows and small cinder cones erupted from the floor, partially filling in the 'crater'.
The clouds seem to have gone 'nuclear' in the distance.
Haleakalā Observatories were built near the highest point on Maui because the site offers the fourth-best viewing conditions on the planet. Here above the clouds the atmosphere is clear and dry, with minimal air and light pollution. The largest scope can track objects as small as a basketball more than 20,000 miles away.
The observatories are consistent with ancient Hawaiian traditions, when elders brought apprentice nā kilo hōkū (Hawaiian astronomers) here to study the heavens and learn to navigate by the stars. Here's a young nā kilo hōkū in the making...?!
Cinder cones form during lava fountaining eruptions. Gas pressure drives tephra, or airborne material, high into the air. Cooled during flight, solid tephra pieces accumulate around the vent, forming a cone. Cinders are tephra pieces that are smaller than a fist. Bombs are larger chunks of tephra and may weigh several hundred pounds or more.
We get our first glimpse of an 'āhinahina (Haleakalā silversword - Argyoxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum)
In the rocky wind-blasted desert of the Haleakalā summit, the silversword manages to thrive.
The 'āhinahina is endemic - this subspecies grows on the slopes of Haleakalā and nowhere else in the world.
The view from White Hill. A high concentration of feldspar in the rock at White Hill creates a lighter colour in the cinders. The Hawaiian name for the area around White Hill is Pa Ka'oao, meaning "the enclosures belonging to Ka'oao," a Hawaiian leader. Ancient Hawaiians built stone wall enclosures in this area to protect themselvs from the mountain's harsh conditions. Centuries ago they climbed Haleakala for religious purposes, to quarry basalt for their tools, and to hunt birds for food and feathers.
The lava flows as well as erosion of the dykes and cinder cones is visible from the lookout as it all gets washed slowly out through the gaps. [6509]
Ka Lu'u o ka 'O'ō (Plunge of the digging stick) Pele was keeper of the fire. She took her magic digging stick to Haleakalā and created many cinder cones.
The colours of the cinder cones, lava flows and sands are stunning.
Lava flow in the foreground and in the background are 3 cinder cones (l-r): Pu'u o Māui (Hill of Maui - Maui, the demigod, is known throughout Polynesia as the trickster), Pu'u o Pele (Hill of Pele), Kamoali'i (The chiefly stones)
Cinder cone is called Ka Moa o Pele (The chicken of Pele, or Pele's bones)
Chukar (Alectoris chukar). Native of Asia and eastern Europe, it was first introduced to Hawaii in 1923.
Another chukar in the Leleiwi lookout parking lot. Apparently it's common for them to travel in groups when it's not the breeding season.
Orange ohelo berries.
The warm air from the ocean gathers into low clouds on the northern side of Maui.
A beautiful silversword on the slopes of Haleakala.
Samantha and Christopher in front of a māmane bush... a favourite for many Hawaiian birds.
The bees like the māmane flowers too! Yellow-faced bees are a native pollinator. They are being threatened by introduced ants and wasps.
Māmane (sophora chrysophylla) shrubs are nitrogen fixers -
they bring an important element out of the atmosphere and into the soil where it is needed by many other plants.
Ohelo berries and pukeave.
This ranch wall was stacked stone by stone in the late 1800s. Stretching for two miles, it guided cttle through the harsh landscape of Haleakala to pasture lands on the east and west sides of Maui. Cattle had a devastating impact on native vegetation, completely destroying some native forests. The paniolo (cowboy) culture still lives today on the slopes of Haleakala.
At the Leleiwi lookout you can actually watch the weather forming at your feet. In just a few minutes the conditions at the Haleakala summit can shift from summer to winter. As warm surface air rises and cools, moisture condenses and clouds form. The cool clouds are trapped at around 8000 ft by the warm trade wind air above in what is called the Trade Wind Inversion Layer.
From the lookout we can spot the switchback trail we will be taking on our way out of the crater on our overnight hike.
We can also see traces of the trail going through the crater among the cinder cones.
Leleiwi means "flying bone". For the Hawaiian the bones carry the mana, meaning the spiritual power. Some believe this may have been an area where the "spirits" were uplifted. The kids seem to have uplifted spirits at the moment. :)
Brother and sister on Haleakala in Hawaii.
One last glance back at the crater.
Some of the dried up ferns on the slopes of Haleakala.
Awwwww.... ;-)
We came all this way to see a cardinal?!
Doing some more junior ranger activities at the campsite while waiting for supper.
An i'iwi. Hawaiians would catch i'iwi and other native forest birds for their colourful feathers which were fashioned into capes,
helmets, and other feathered articles.
Sunset at the campground.
Good night!
[ Haleakalā Sunrise | Cloud Forest Hike | Haleakalā Summit ]
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