Haleakala National Park – RDZ Photography

A Milestone – Posting Number 1000

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

This photography blog started out as a way to share some photos with friends, but after a number of years it has reached a milestone – posting number 1000!

To celebrate I give you my favorite 40 photos of all time. (I tried to make it less but could not)

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Milwaukee sunrise

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan

Duluth, Minnesota thunderstorm

Yellowstone National Park – All Hail the Geyser Gods

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Mendocino County, California

Cambridge, Ohio lumberjack contest

Cincinnati Renaissance Festival

Loudonville, Ohio – Native American Pow Wow

Alaska Peninsula

Columbus – Krampus

Chicago

New York City subway art

Cincinnati – Rosie the Riveter Contest

Lanai, Hawaii – Cat Sanctuary

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Waimea Canyon Park, Kauai, Hawaii

Columbus – Krampus V2

Washington DC – Embassy Day

Houston – Lucky Land

Amarillo, Texas – Cadillac Ranch

Cleveland – Parade the Circle

Columbus Zoo

Montreal

Olivos, Argentina

San Antonio De Areco, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Casa Rosada

Bariloche, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Retiro Train Station

Buenos Aires – Recoleta Cemetery

Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

La Leona, Argentina

El Calafate, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Palacio Barolo

Igauzu Falls, Argentina

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 17 The Road To Hana (and Beyond)

Architecture, Nature, Transportation

The Road to Hana is a famed Maui attraction. Winding for 52 miles from Kahului, it passes over 46 one lane bridges, and has over 600 curves.

It basically runs up and down the gulches throughout east Maui, with many of the gulches featuring waterfalls.

It was raining fairly hard as we made our way down this early morning, so some of the falls were more impressive than normal. The good news was our early start meant we missed most of the very slow tourist traffic on the way down.

Unfortunately unless you had a 4WD high clearance vehicle you had to come back the same way, which we did later that afternoon.

Eventually we reached Hana, and continued on to the portion of Haleakala National Park that is on the ocean. As we passed into the park grounds we were met with another great waterfall.

Our main destination for the day was the Pipiwai Trail.

This trail takes you up the mountain past the Seven Sacred Pools.

Through an amazing bamboo forest.

After clearing the bamboo forest you are presented with the highlight – the 400′ high Waimoku Waterfalls.

After returning back down the trail we started backtracking up Hana Highway. Just beyond Hana is the Wai’anapanapa State Park.

The seas were angry that day, and the waves were high and frequent.

The blowhole at the park was more impressive than any of the others we saw elsewhere.

Even the birds seemed excited.

As we continued our journey back to Kahului we passed an area where numerous cars were parked along the road. Following the others we made our way down to an overlook where everyone was checking out the waves.

They were reported to be 20-30′ high here, which brought out locals as well as the tourists.

The only surfboards we saw that day were lining the parking lot of the shops.

As we made our way back to the hotel for the night we passed this architecturally interesting temple. We were fortunate that despite quite a bit of rain we remained dry for our couple hours of hiking, as well as the visit to the state park.

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 16 From Maui to the Moon

Architecture, History, Nature, Sciences, Transportation

Early on a Sunday morning we took off and headed up the tallest mountain on Maui.

Up we went until we were at the same level as the clouds.

And the road kept going – we could see Molokai in the distance, and we kept going.

we were looking down on the 5000′ high West Maui Mountains and the clouds now. Where could we be going?

The moon!

No not really, it is Haleakala Mountain (and National Park). The buildings are an observatory.

But if you could visit the moon in shorts this is the place (to be fair it was in the upper 50s but it is Hawaii so I am wearing shorts).

Haleakala is a volcano, and the top is the crater with numerous cauldrons. They like to point out that while it is officially 10,023′ above sea level, there is another 19, 680′ below sea level, so it is taller than Everest (but shorter overall than nearby Mauna Kea).

There are numerous cauldrons in the crater, which is a deceptive 2600′ deep.

While barren of vegetation, the crater floor is full of color, as this series of photos will show. These are some of my favorite photos of all time, all from the same place!

We went down the path into the cauldron for about 45 minutes – resulting in a 2 hour hike back up. For me this was one of the tougher hikes, it is 10,000′ in elevation, it is continuous, without shade (and I likely only went down 700-800 vertical feet)

It is an incredible place, and we were fortunate that it was a very sunny day the day we visited, as the clouds often obscure the mountain (at least parts), and later in the day and for the rest of our time in Maui, it was at least partially obscured.

We returned to Maui (aka sea level) and went for a drive to Kahakuloa. While most people drive the famed road to Hana (we did – later), this road was far more impressive and challenging. It was mostly a lane and a half, often clinging to the cliffs to the ocean, with minimal guard rails.

It was great!