20th Anniversary Dream Trip Contest

Great Travel Moment

I spent the last day of my trip to Maui on a 6-hour, 12-mile hike in the lunar landscape of the world’s largest volcanic crater, Haleakala. I took this photo from the Sliding Sands Trail, whose name hints at the hardest part of the hike. Traversing sand and fist-size crags of volcanic rock can be slow-going and hard on the ankles. But it was worth it to hike above the clouds (at about 8,000 feet) and to see the world from this perspective. Atop the summit are space observatories where the wind is strong enough to knock you over, and the temperature is a biting 40 degrees. Many people think of Hawaii as lush greenery and a tourist mecca, but in a place like Haleakala, you can actually stand where the volcanic core of the earth touches the brow of heaven.