
After your morning pickup and breakfast, your tour guide will drive you up Haleakalā highway towards the National Park. You will drive between Makawao and Pukalani, and through Kula, a high altitude residential area in Maui where temperatures are much cooler and the landscape is covered in beautiful green pastures. Make sure to look out your window to see almost all of Maui County from these heights!
Every so often on your drive up the mountain, you will drive through a forest grove of blue gum eucalyptus. Ask your guide to roll the windows down to feel the fresh cool mountain air and smell the eucalyptus.
About halfway up the mountain, your guide will stop to let you stretch your legs and take in the views of Maui. They will explain everything you’re able to see here including all of Mauiʻs islands and their history, why Maui is called “the valley isle”, and the meaning and significance of Maui’s various towns.
After entering the National Park, your guide will drive you to Halemauʻu Trail, named after the rare hawaiian fern species found here. You will hike about a mile down to a breathtaking lookout at the infamous Rainbow Bridge. Spend some time here watching the clouds!
After Halemauʻu you’ll head up to the very summit of Haleakalā where you will reach 10,023 ft above the Pacific ocean. Here your guide will tell you about the rare silversword plant, the observatory, and if you’re lucky, the peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa which are sometimes seen from this summit.
For your second hike, you’ll head just below the summit of Haleakalā. Here, you will traverse down Keoneheʻeheʻe or sliding sands into the volcanic crater itself.
Hike down into Maui’s volcanic Crater
Finally, your humble guide will take you to Hosmer Grove. A forested grove of invasive hardwood species such as eucalyptus, cedar, and pines from all over the world. Here youʻll enjoy lunch at some picnic tables and get to see native hawaiian songbirds found nowhere else on Earth.
Hosmers Grove Hike