We started this Trinity Sunday out at Trinity Episcopal Church by the Sea. A brief history from the brochure says, "Cradled within the ancient stone walls of Kilolani Church built in 1852 by famous Hawaiian David Malo. Rev. Malo was only the third native Hawaiian ordained to Christian ministry. After fire and flood the church lay in ruin until 1976 when a group of Episcopalians revived it as Trinity-by-the-Sea. Our Sunday services are held within these hallowed walls, under God's spacious skies. Wonderful place. More info at www.trinitybts.org.
Then off to the adventure for the day--the 10,023' Summit of Haleakala volcano and the crater there. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. The road up was a continual switchback with outstanding views. At about 7000' we hit fog and clouds but came out of it about 9000'.
Then the cinder cones in the crater.
At the summit is one of the few places where you can find silversword plants ('Anhinahina). It's an endangered species and unique to Hawaii. It has dense covering of silver hairs to protect it from the intense sun and help it retain water. It lives up to 50 years and flowers once and dies. The plant below is starting to flower.
Also at the top are the Haleakala Observatories, a joint project between the University of Hawaii and the US Government. It's not open to the public.
View from the top...
And we saw a little wildlife up there. The first is a chuckar and the others are of the nene, the State bird of Hawaii.
