Photo of the Week #6

In anticipation of the upcoming trip back to the island of Maui, this week's photo comes from a couple years ago on our first trip to the island. This image is of the Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o Crater and the Ko'olau Gap in Haleakala Nat'l Park. It was late afternoon as we were hiking back up the Sliding Sands Trail to the crater rim at 10,004' when clouds started pouring into the crater through the gap, creating quite a fantastic scene. On this trip, we didn't have time to take the side trail to colorful Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o, but this will be one of our destinations next week. This particular photo was also featured in Backpacker's recent Nov. 2009 issue in the National Parks Hall of Fame feature. See more images from Haleakala and the Sliding Sands Trail on my website.