The Hawaiian islands are a geological "hotspot". No seriously, that's what they call it. The volcanos here aren't caused by tectonics like such volcanoes as Shasta and Saint Helens. The islands formed by the hotspot spewing lava up. Separate islands formed when the tectonic plate moved and eruptions would occur in different places. Thus each of the peaks are formed. Basically it's one volcano but it's opening in the earth's crust is moving.
Haleakala, on Maui, is a dormant volcano. It stands at 10,023 feet above sea level. It is also taller than Mt. Everest if you count the portion beneath the ocean's surface. This is looking down into the crater, which is about a 3000 foot drop. It was very cool to look down into the crater and pick out the most recent lava flows. Not pictured is the Big Island just off to the right.
The popular thing to do is get up to the summit for sunrise to watch the sun rise just above the ceiling of the clouds. This is about an hour after sunrise (I chickened out - due to a combination of 20-30 degree wind chilled weather when I packed for the tropics and the two hour drive it would have taken). In the 10,000 feet we climbed there was a 40 degree temperature drop.
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