Haleakalā Hiking Trails

Hosmer Grove Loop Trail is the first hike one can experience inside Haleakalā National Park. If youʻre planning on hiking all day up here, this is also a great warmup hike. Right after entering the park, take the first left turn you see to get to the parking lot and bathrooms. The first thing youʻll notice once you step out of your vehicle is the rich smell of eucalyptus, cedar & pine emanating from the grove nearby. These invasive hardwood tree species were brought in from all over the world by Ralph S. Hosmer in the early 1900s.

This trail is not difficult at all. You can either do the 0.5 mile loop through the forest, or extend the loop an additional 0.5 miles through native subalpine shrubland. Iʻd highly recommend doing the full loop as it’s not that much more difficult and provides you with a unique juxtaposition between invasive forest and native landscape.

Hosmer Grove forest is one of the few forested areas in the National Park thatʻs accessible to visitors. As such, it is also one of the few areas not only in the park but in the entire state where one can see a variety of endangered hawaiian birds. The I’i’wi (pronounced ee ee vee) is a bright red Hawaiian honeycreeper, with a distinct curved beak that allows it to sip nectar from native ‘Ōh’ia and Mamane. Whatʻs neat about this trail is all the plants and trees are labeled, indicating whether the species is invasive or native and what its place of origin is.

About a 25 minute drive up from the park entrance youʻll take a left at the 8,000ft elevation sign to find the parking lot. Drive slow, as the nēnē goose, Hawai’iʻs State bird, likes to hang out at the lookout here sometimes. Make sure to check out the map near the trailhead to orient yourself with the trail and where you are located within the park. Feel free to use the restroom before heading in.

This trail is of moderate difficulty the first two miles and strenuous the next two. Going in, it will feel pretty easy as you are going downhill but it is very rocky and you need to spend most of your time watching your footing. However, because the only way back to your car is the same way you came, you will be going uphill at an elevation where the oxygen rate is already half. The trail only gets more difficult depending on how far down you decide to hike.

The first two miles take you through subalpine shrubland to a breathtaking lookout that spans the bottom half of Halekalā Crater itself. If it’s very clear on the day of your hike, you can also see a long portion of Mauiʻs northern coastline, even making out the Hana airport. Hike another 5 minutes down from this first lookout to get to Rainbow Bridge, named after the rare rainbow that forms on the left side of the ridgeline if the cloud mist starts ascending the valley below you. You won’t see another rainbow like this, as it often forms concentric circles of rainbows through the rising cloud mist. The next two miles take you down switchbacks that cut back and forth along a steep ridge down to a flat grassland at the bottom of the crater that takes you to the Holua cabin. Remember, that totals 4 miles downhill if you decide to visit the cabin, which means 4 miles back up to your car. Plan to take twice as long making your way back.

This trail combines the Sliding Sands and Halemau‘u trails into one longer thru hike. In order to do this hike, you will need to coordinate a pickup for whichever end you decide to finish the hike on. My recommendation is to start at the summit at Sliding Sands and exit out of Halemau‘u further down. You could go the other way but, why? The most ideal way to do this is to take two cars, park one at Halemau‘u and then carpool to Sliding Sands. Drive back up to the summit to pick up the second car once you’re done. The other option is to park at the summit, hike through, and hope for a friendly traveler to let you hitch a ride back to the top.

This is considered a difficult hike. The hike is even more challenging if you decide to ascend to the summit rather than the hike down and out of Halemau‘u. I think the other option is much more enjoyable but thatʻs just me. You will be hiking through the crater itself, a very remote and desolate area so bring at least 3 liters of water per person, enough food for all day, hiking boots, lots of layers, and maybe even an extra pair of socks.

This hike will provide you with the most complete experience of the park. Starting at the summit, you descend all the way down to the crater floor as you look out over the crater itself. The views are breathtaking. Once you reach the crater floor the trail forks and you take the left path through the very center. You will hike around and up several cinder cones, through large lava fields, and several large grasslands. There is the option to extend your hike with two loops while you’re on the crater floor. One loop takes you around a large cinder cone and through some surreal terrain; I definitely recommend doing this one. The other loop takes you through a large silversword grove. You finally end up at Holua cabin at the foot of a 1200ft ridgeline. This is a great place to have lunch as the cabin has a picnic table just outside or you can sit on the nice grass. Lookout for the nēnē here as they like to sleep in the tall grass nearby. Finally, youʻll ascend up the ridgeline and hike through a subalpine shrubland, emerging at the parking lot after 12-14 miles, depending on if you do the loops or not.