This 6 mile round trip hike is mostly on a lava field, the lava is called a’a. It looks a bit like freshly tilled earth from a distance, but is solid rock. The hike looks easy. It’s not. The trail is filled with loose rocks, and is very scrambly going indeed.

The sign is about a mile in. You can see the trail, and also how going off-trail would be difficult going indeed.

The brown areas are a lava flow from about 1790 on the foothills of 10,000 ft. Mount Haleakala.

Walking back

The a’a piled in the front right is the ruins of a native Hawaiian structure from some centuries back.

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A Phillipines court convicted a US Marine of rape and a judge said the Marine will be held in a local prison, rather than be allowed to stay in the US Embassy, pending appeals.

The US military had a temper tantrum, and canceled a joint military exercise with the Philippines. How dare any country challenge the authority of the US military to do whatever it wants anywhere it wants.
Sort of like an angry baby banging its rattle on the high chair, isn’t it?

This case has huge visibility in the Philippines, and represents a watershed event, I think. The people there are clearly saying “so more abuses” by the US, even if their puppet government continues to ‘cooperate’ with D.C.

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Sign at Maui Tacos

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