Picturing Time

I love this recent post by Alexandra Wolfe about Time. Profound and special.

It’s also a worthwhile reflection when all around you feels stuck or not going well - in time it will all turn to dust, it will all be a distant memory.

Anyway, Alex’s post felt all the more pertinent to me as I had just returned from a visit to the island of O’ahu. In the Hawai’i island chain, O’ahu is older than Maui. O’ahu is 3 - 4 million years old. Maui at 1.3 - 2 million years old is a mere stripling. These differences in age manifest most obviously in the erosion that has taken place in the four volcanoes that make up both islands, two volcanoes on each.

On O’ahu the shield volcanoes that grew that island have eroded to leave behind the Waiʻanae and Koʻolau Ranges - two mountain ranges that can be seen as the sides of the now extinct volcanoes. Below is a photo of the Ko’olau Range.

On Maui the West Maui mountains (Mauna Kahalawai) while not as eroded as the O’ahu ranges, is well on its way to be a crumbling mountain - crumbling in “a millions of years” timeline.

Haleakalā, the second and largest mountain on Maui is still very much a dominant presence. While it is dormant, the top of this shield volcano has eroded away to reveal a huge crater which one can go hiking in. The summit sits at 10,023 ft (3,055 m). If you are around in another million years or so, pop back to take a look and see what state Haleakalā has eroded to.

Finally, there is the mention by Alex of sand, that mixture of stone, shells and coral that even the mightiest of mountains can erode to. Here is a little detail of Waimānalo Beach on O’ahu. As Alex says,

…comb your fingers through the golden dust that was once a mountain.