E komo mai, Welcome to Haleakalā National Park – Summit District. Parking your vehicle at the Headquarters Visitor Center, hop out and take a look around. Everything under your feet is the East Maui Volcano, whose summit region is known as Haleakalā (House of the Sun). This massive shield volcano has a summit that soars 10,023 feet into the atmosphere, and it is rooted to the ocean floor 19,680 feet below sea level. East Maui Volcano is the younger of two volcanoes that make up the island of Maui, and it’s the only active volcano in the state that is NOT on the island of Hawai‘i. Even though geologists classify this volcano as active, you won’t see any hot lava, ash clouds, gas vents, or hot springs during your visit. 

Volcanoes operate on a much longer timeline than human lives, so their activity can be measured over hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years. There is no universal timeline for when active volcanoes become dormant, or when a dormant volcano becomes extinct. When geologists say that a volcano is “active,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is currently erupting. Rather, that volcano has erupted recently and most likely will erupt again. This volcano has experienced about 13 eruptions in last 1,500 years, the most recent eruption being 400-600 years ago near the town of Makena on the south coast.