Hiking Haleakalā Crater

This is the hike I am most proud of. I completed this hike just 5 months post-op of ACL surgery and surprised myself during the process.

Hike Review Scale: 1-5 (easy to hard)

Haleakalā Hike = 4

So, here’s the hike down:

In total, it took us 7.5 hours to complete the 13-mile hike. We started at sunrise at 6:00am to catch one of the most beautiful sunrises in the world. There’s nothing quite like it. Haleakalā means the house of the sun. Our group drove two cars up to the summit. We parked one at Halemau’u trail and drove the other to the start of the hike at the visitor center. Since Halemau’u is the trailhead we finish at, once we finish, we can drive that car about 3 miles to get back to the other car.

There are various trails through Haleakalā Crater to hike and cabins to camp in overnight. The route we took started at Keonehe’ehe’e Sliding Sands trail, went down to Kapalaoa cabin, then across to Hōlua cabin, and finally up Halemau’u trail to the park road.

The majority of the hike is relatively flat except the 4 miles down Sliding Sands Trail and 3 miles up Halemau’u (Rainbow) Trail.

The scenery changes to many different views; it's like 1,000 views in one hike. It went from volcanic, to meadows, to rainforest, to the deep ocean, to red rocks, to mountainous, and even to the moon!

Part 1: Keonehe'ehe'e Sliding Sands Trail to Kapalaoa Cabin

5.6 miles

It's about 4 miles down sandy terrain and a 1.6-mile hike on flat sand terrain to Kapalaoa cabin. You wouldn't expect much to grow from this volcanic scenery, but you'd be surprised. Check out the pictures below.

Part 2: Kapalaoa Cabin to Hōlua Cabin

3.5 miles

Walk across moon-like scenery and past large volcanic cinder cones. This part of the hike was unbelievable, and the change in scenery was jaw-dropping. There are hike mountains to the right as you walk through dark gravel. Then you'll stumble upon red rock cinder comes that comes out of nowhere.

Part 3: Hōlua Cabin to Halemau'u trail to FINISH

3.9 miles

At the cabin, you may see some native Nēnē geese. This is a good rat stop for snacks and even kick off your hiking boots for a little bit.

It's about 1 mile from the cabin to Halemau'u trail. Then, you'll finish off the hike with 3 miles up. There are about 63 switchbacks till you reach the top. Once you reach that parking lot, you'll enjoy having your car there. I recommend having cool drinks and snacks ready.

Fun Fact

Most of the park mile signs end with 0.9, so instead of 4 miles, it's 3.9, 2 miles is 1.9, and 1 mile is 0.9. I'm still undecided whether this mental trick was to make the distance seem shorter or seem longer.