
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 Mauiʻs various towns.
After entering the National Park, your guide will drive you to Leleiwi Overlook. A short walk on a slightly rocky path will get you to an amazing first view of the crater!
After Leleiwi Overlook your guide will take you to Kalahaku Overlook where youʻll get a view from the crater from a higher vantage point. Watch the clouds slowly roll their way into the crater through Ko’olau Gap! Make sure to ask your guide to take some pictures of you and your party!
Your guide will then drive you to the very top of Haleakalā where youʻll get to see the rare silversword, check out the observatory, look down into the crater from the top, and on a really clear day you can see Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa over on the Big Island.
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.
Hosmer Grove Hike