All Around Maui: Tree's first Haleakalā hike. February 7, 2004

Sliding Sands Trail in Haleakalā crater is definitely too steep going up, but here we are. This is Tree's first hike inside the crater. He loved it!

You might notice his progressive fashion sense in outdoor clothing. These are his Santa Claus jammies. Soon you, too, will be wearing these on hikes.

CRW_4421 The trail begins at the Haleakalā visitor's center. Here Tree is standing at the edge of the parking lot, with White Hill in the background.

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CRW_4426 Early into the hike you get an expansive view into the crater.

CRW_4428 Tree is very interested in reading, but can't read on his own yet, save a few words such as his name. He asked me to read all the trailside signs.

CRW_4430 Tree examines the structure of a wall formed around the trail by rain erosion.

CRW_4431 Walking through the eroded section of trail.

CRW_4433 Tree spontaneously said and acted out, "I'm going to give this rock a hug . . . and a kiss. I'm going to give it love, because I love rocks."

CRW_4439 Galloping down the trail, pretending to be a knight riding a horse. His hands are holding the reins.

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CRW_4455 Tree was very into the rocks. Perhaps too into them.

CRW_4460 While resting on this rock, Tree said, "I like this. I want to come here every day."

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CRW_4467 Another rock hug.

CRW_4468 And a rock kiss.

CRW_4469 Naughty-boy expression

CRW_4492 Among this volcanic sand/gravel, there are well-formed cubic crystals that reflect the sunlight like broken glass. At first we thought there was broken glass on the trail.

CRW_4489 This is a closeup of one of the crystals, in Tree's hand. 1:1 magnification at the camera's image plane.

CRW_4493 This shows one of the crystals with sunlight reflecting off of it.

CRW_4496 This is the exact same crystal, with the camera rotated slightly so as to miss the sun's direct reflection.

CRW_4477 Tree asked, "Can we spend the night here?" In this photo, Tree is anxiously awaiting the horses that appear in the next picture.

CRW_4480 Tree was very interested in these horses that passed, but they seemed to him somewhat dangerous. Best to keep safe by not looking directly at them, right Tree?

CRW_4484 He's throwing rocks at me, and risking his life by standing slightly off trail. The slope is quite steep here, and the footing is essentially sand. The bottom of the slope that you can see is about 2000 vertical feet below.

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CRW_4505 When the trail approached the road, Tree ran down to the road and wasted no time trying to get us a lift home. This was his own idea. I swear. I had never seen him talk about hitchhiking before. A lot of people get around Maui by hitchhiking, so I guess he just noticed people doing it.

CRW_4508 This is directly across the road, facing up toward the summit. It's a better background than the previous shot, but this shot is posed.