What are 5-10 interesting facts about Haleakala, the volcano on Maui?
I live on Maui, and go with Beckey’s answer as she nailed this question. Personally, I love Haleakala, as it is the house of the sun, and they have tours to go up there and watch the sunrise. Altitude is over 10,000ft. so it’s cold up there, but feels great when it is cooking down here. It is a very spirtual mountain to the Hawaiian culture which I have total respect for. A very rare plant called the silversword, grows there, and a very rare bird the Nene, which is coming back. They have ATV tours, Bike tours down the volcano, Horseback riding, which I want to do, and the dirt roads are nothing but red dirt.Aloha.
1. The name Haleakala does not refer to the whole volcano. The ancient Hawaiians used the name to refer to the summit area only. They did not have a name for the whole mountain. 2. Geologists and geographers call the mountain the East Maui Volcano, out of respect for the traditional name. The older and heavily eroded West Maui Volcano is usually called the West Maui Mountains. 3. Hale a ka la means “House of the Sun”, word for word. The stress is on the first syllable and the last, with both held just a little bit longer, maybe not quite twice as long as the other syllables. HAH-lay-ah-kuh-LAH. 4. The name comes from the legend that Maui climbed the mountain in order to lasso the sun and make it go more slowly. His sister had been making kapa (tapa, or barkcloth) but the day was too short for it to dry properly. 5. The dent at the top of the East Maui Volcano is not a crater. It is an erosion basin. It was former by erosion from wind and rain. 6. However, inside the erosion basin are s
