Written by Nandor Szotak on September 3, 2024
Haleakalā National Park, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii, is renowned for its vast and otherworldly volcanic landscapes. The park is named after Haleakalā, the dormant shield volcano that forms much of the island. "Haleakalā" means "House of the Sun" in Hawaiian, and the summit offers one of the best sunrise viewing spots in Hawaii.
Now that you have a basic idea of what and where is Haleakalā, we can talk about our hiking/camping trip. Everyone knows that the best way to visit the crater is to stay in one of the three cabins located in the National Park. The only problem with that is that getting a permit has been way harder in recent years. Why? Well, you have to book the cabins 6 months in advance and they sell out super fast. Sometimes you just want to have a quick getaway from your everyday hustle and bustle, which means randomly booking a place to stay. That is out of the question if you want to stay in one of the cabins.
The good thing is that you can still camp. Of course, you will not have the comfort of a cabin, but you can still enjoy the crater by staying in a tent. Another good thing is that instead of paying $75/night for a cabin, you'll pay $8/night for a camp spot and most likely you will be able to book a spot easily.
That's what we did! We needed a short getaway with my wife Elena, so we booked a night at the Hōlua campground where we never camped before. The plan was to stay one night in the crater and two nights at the Hana side at the Kipahulu District of the National Park. I am not getting into the booking process. You have to log in to Recreation.org and the process is pretty straightforward.
We flew from O'ahu early morning to Maui, picked up our rental cars, and headed straight to Ace Hardware store to pick up camping gas for our 4-day trip. Yes, Ace Hardware is the only place where you can buy camping gas for your stove and it is double the price it was before the pandemic...
Driving up to Haleakalā is always fun. It is a beautiful, smooth ride. Before we start hiking, we always like to check in at the Visitor Center and tell them about our plans.
Thank God we did! Guess what? Yeah, they told us that there is no water at all at the Holuā campground.
"Not at all? I asked.
No, the cabin is not in use and the campground doesn't have any water to filter either..." -answered the park ranger.
We each had 1.5 liters of water with us so we needed to get more. But where? They don't sell water in the National Park, but they sell water canisters. We spent $15 on a nice metal canister that could fit one extra liter of water. Meantime I realized that my water filter had a 1L pouch which I could fill up too.
We ended up carrying about 5 liters of water for 2 days down into the crater. Knowing that we would be tight with water, we decided that we would not cook, just eat other food that don't require cooking.
Didn't you just buy a full gas canister for cooking at Ace? Oh well, it stayed in the car :)
Okay, we got the water, we got food, we got our gear, let's go already!
Elena got the idea of doing the following route. Start at Sliding Sands Trailhead, and hike down to the bottom of the crater. From there at the junction to Kapalaoa Cabin take a left turn onto the KaMoa'o Pele loop trail, and from there use the Halemau'u Trail to get to the Holuā campground. This way is the scenic way that goes between black lava fields and red cinder cones. This route is about 7.5 miles with barely 500 feet of elevation again but well worth it.
I would have loved to shoot a whole YouTube video about our journey but with the recent changes in National Park laws (that require you to have a permit if you want to film), I decided that I would only take pictures (I hope you'll enjoy them in the blog:)
The descent into the crater was breathtaking. The crater floor contains cinder cones, some of which have reddish hues, giving the landscape an almost Martian appearance.
The crater itself is an enormous depression that stretches about 7+ miles across, 2 miles wide, and over 2,600 feet deep. It's not technically a crater but rather a valley formed by erosion.
Don't forget, this area can get pretty chilly and windy. When you start hiking down from 10,000 feet you might feel cold, so having your rain or wind jacket handy is a great idea. By the time you get to the crater floor about 7,000 feet, it gets warmer (sometimes).
Crossing through this Mars-like landscape is an amazing experience. For a moment you forget that you are in Hawaii. Everything is just so different.
The only elevation was right before we crossed between two cinder cones, Kamoa'opele and Halāli'i.
The views were incredible!
At one point we got to this area where my favorite peak Hanakauhi showed up behind the cinder cones. Such a beautiful peak to climb.
We were getting close to the campground. The weather was pretty hot, but thankfully it was windy, so that helped us go and not drink as much water. At one point Elena decided to sit down...well, after she fell from the lava rock into the sand :D.
This was her 1st day wearing her new On Cloud trail runners, but she is a "Salomon girl" so naturally these new shoes were just not what she expected. Lesson learned, "Never try your brand new shoes first with a heavy pack walking through a lava field" :)).
After 4 hours and 7.5 miles later we arrived at Holuā cabin where we were greeted by a couple of nēnēs. Nēnē is the Hawaiian goose which is the state bird of Hawaii. They are super cool birds just don't try to take pictures too close to them, they will attack you.
Upon our arrival, both of us took off our warm shoes and relaxed barefoot in the grass between nēnē poop (sometimes not between). It was so hot that we just wanted to lay down a bit, listen to the silence around us, and get that high-elevation tan.
There were no clouds in the sky; it was one of the hotter days up in Haleakalā.
I did go around the cabin, checked the rain catchment system and the faucet, but there was not one drop of water flowing from any of them.
There was a small plastic container left with some water by the faucet for the nēnē. I guess in an emergency you could drink that? Hmmm...
You or the nēnē?
After a good half hour, I decided to go and explore the campground. At first, we assumed the campground was right by the cabin, but then we realized that you have to walk about 5 minutes to get to it.
There were different spots, each numbered, so we easily found our site not too far from the outhouse, but not too close either.
All the sites were somewhat fenced with lava rocks, so you were protected against heavy winds. We set up our tents pretty quickly, got ready our beds and pillows and we were ready to have our dinner. The sun slowly started to go down at this time, we were at golden hour. No people, no noise, no stress, just a perfect evening.
It was so quiet that we decided to go for a walk and check if there was anyone around the cabin or if any other camper showed up.
Yes, one girl was trying to set up her tent right by the cabin, She thought the same as us, that the spot by the cabin was the campground. I don't remember her name, but she had an accent (who doesn't right?) and she was happy to see that there were others around. After she talked to us, she decided to go find her spot in the campground.
Meantime, Elena and I scrambled up to this spot behind the cabin for some amazing views before we headed back to our campsite.
The evening was truly stunning as we watched the sun gradually set behind us, savoring every moment. With clear skies above, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to capture some Milky Way shots later that night.
Temperatures dropped quickly after the sunset. Long sleeves, jackets, hats, they were all in use by the time it got dark. Elena decided early to get into the tent, straight into the sleeping bag :)
I stayed out for some night photography. It was worth every cold minute out there.
We woke up early. We were excited for the sunrise, but less excited to get out of the tent. It was still cold outside since the sunlight hadn't hit our spot yet.
I let the pictures describe our morning since I am a better photographer than a blog writer.
Our neighbor, the girl with an accent, left very early. She explained that she needed to leave early to drive the Road to Hana and camp at Kipahulu campground. This was also our plan, but we were not in a hurry. We preferred to enjoy the morning light, have breakfast, pack up, and depart later.
Even though it was not yet 8 am when we left the campground, it was already hot. Normally, I would still need my jacket at that time. However, this time was different. Additionally, we only had about 1L of water each for the journey. This amount is usually sufficient, but as we hiked up the switchbacks (what I like to call the zig-zags), the heat became even more intense.
The trail for the second day led from Hōlua Cabin to Halemau'u Trailhead. Although the route was relatively short at 4 miles and included an elevation gain of around 1500 feet, the heat made it feel more challenging than expected.
It was a never-ending switchback. I wasn't even taking photos anymore. The light was just very harsh, burning not only us but even the colors of the vegetation.
It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to reach the Halemau'u trailhead.
However, our car was not parked there...
Our vehicle was actually parked 6 miles away at the park's summit, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, while we were currently at 8,000 feet.
You have two choices in this situation:
The first option is to hitchhike to the summit. The park provides a designated "hiker pull-out" area where hitchhiking is allowed. Alternatively, if you are not able to get a ride, you will need to walk the 6 miles uphill to retrieve your car.
I wouldn't recommend the 2nd option!
I have never encountered any issues getting a ride; you just need to be patient.
By the time we reached the trailhead, we were quite dehydrated. I was pretty determined to get a ride as quickly as we could. To my surprise, two other women were also trying to get a ride Oh, no, this will be a long wait...Or not!
Right after I said "hi" to the two women, a car arrived, and soon we were heading to pick up our car. Or rather, I was on my way. Elena had to remain with our large backpacks since there wasn't sufficient room for all of us...
This overnight trip in Haleakalā was truly one of the best I've had. For 2 days, we hardly encountered anyone, enjoyed perfect weather, and delivered exactly what we hoped for in a secluded backpacking adventure. We will be back!
Team: Elena and Nandor (Me)
Distance: Total 11. .5 miles in 2 days
Hiking Time: 6.5h
Tags: #haleakala #hawaiihiking #hawaiibackpacking #maui #haleakalacrater
If you want to see my solo backpacking experience in Haleakala, watch my video here:
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