You’ll find Haleakala National Park at the highest point (over 10,000 feet) of the Hawaiian island of Maui. The high elevation is perfect for sky-watching, and its volcanic crater provides a desert landscape with rare wildlife and plants — including the Haleakala Silversword plant that can only be found inside the park. The unusual succulent species lives for 15 to 50 years in an arid climate and vertically blooms once (seen in the last photo) before it dies.

See more photos in the Summit of Maui gallery and Maui group.

Photos from Shauna.Ullman, RobbieTog, hawaiiansupaman, allisonjbaird, judah42, Henry Weiland, and Guidje.