Halemau'u Haleakala Overlook Trail is a 12.2 kilometer lightly trafficked out and back trail located near Kula, Maui, Hawaii that offers the chance to see wildlife and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking and trail running and is accessible year-round.
hiking
running
views
wildlife
no dogs
Haleakala National Park PO Box 369 Makawao HI 96768 For general park information, call (808) 572-4400. Recorded message is available 24-hours a day and will likely contain an answer to your question. To speak to a park representative, call the same number and press 0 during office hours of 8:00 am - 3:45 pm HST. Kipahulu (Coastal Area) For information specific to the Kipahulu area of the park, call the Kipahulu Visitor Center at (808) 248-7375 during office hours of 9am-5pm
Trail eating of hard is accurate. Rocky and steady staircase incline coming back out. I only did a little less than 1 miles in and back to parking lot. Beautiful view of coastline and crater before I turned around.
Lots of loose rocks and bees! View is breathtaking, of course, but speaking of breath, make sure your lungs are adjusted to the 8000' altitude. I live near Crater Road so it wasn't a huge change for my lungs, but I did see other tourists struggling. $25 for entrance into Haleakalā National Park, but is good for 3 days with receipt! Since it's all downhill to the crater then uphill to come back, going as early as you can in the morning is better so it isn't too hot on the way up. Get that booty workout.
Clouds are hit or miss. If you miss, there isn’t much to see.
1.1 mile hike on rocky path to a crater view point. 2.2 round trip. We encountered the crater fogged in so no spectacular views.
We made about half way to the crater floor and still really enjoyed this hike. Sun protection and sufficient water is strongly advised. The view are remarkable!
B L recorded Halemau'u Haleakala Overlook Trail
My party was able to do the trail in both sneakers and hiking shoes, but hiking shoes would probably be preferable for if it rains. We did not heed the advice of a previous reviewer and did not bring a rain jacket, and it would have come in handy. We went on it a sunny day, so we didn’t get too cold until it started misting. The trail back up is not too steep, but can be a little challenging in some spots. We did out to the full trail because we left too late in the day. The Ranger said to expect about five hours for this trail. The views were wonderful, as well as the vegetation! There are steep drop offs in some spots, but as long as you are careful you should be fine. There are only one or two spots where you cross on a ridge line and it is steep on either side. 5/5 from everyone in my party!
Great diversity of scenery when combining the sliding sands and Halemau'u trails. Parked at Halemau'u trailhead and hitched easily up to summit, then went mostly downhill save for last 3 miles or so coming up Halemau'u.
Highly recommend this hike. The views are stunning!
Great trail. Well defined. Scenery is very nice. We went in and out of the cloud which was awesome. We did this right after doing the sliding sands trail which I highly recommend doing if you have time (took just over 5 hours for both trails).
Norm D.
My wife and I started at 7am on Sliding Sands trail and turned left onto this one at the bottom of the crater. Either park at the end of the trail and hitchhike up or park at the top and get a ride back up to your vehicle at the end of the hike. Either way you'll get a ride. 2.5 L of water was JUST enough for us to share...could have used more. With the descent from the start of Sliding Sands the total was 22km. The climb out of the crater was hard but not steep due to switchbacks and wife that wasn't impressed...I can't imagine someone riding a horse for this trail but there are signs. Highlight of the things we did in Maui...
This way down gives you many trail options once down. It's easy to follow, not very steap, it's all good. Probably easier than by sliding sands. Anyhow, made it all the way to paliku, which is a little more than 20 miles, but the terrain is so easy that it took only about 7-8hours Try to go on a not rainy day...
great hike; weather and temperatures can change very quickly; be prepared.
Getting to the overlook is pretty easy and doesn't take long. Very beautiful views along the way, almost like in a movie! Heading down can be tricky when wet, so be careful. I can't say what the climb up is like, since my wife and I went into the crater and up the Sliding Sands trail instead.
Amazing trail! I had 1.5 L of water and wish I brought more. Once you drop down to the lower level the clouds roll in and out all around you. It can get cool and hot based on cloud cover. I layered and it helped a lot. There is water at the Holua cabin but i think you need a passcode to get in. There was a couple staying there and offered to fill up my water pack. The nene birds hung out around the cabin and really cool to know they were part of the geese family.
This trail is something very different! Very special terrain that I have never seen before. Looks like your walking on the moon. The trail is a little challenging due to 100% exposure to sun. Make sure you bring plenty of water and good sun protection! We did this trail a little different as it had been suggested to us by the ranger at the visitor center. The best option to do this trail is to park your car at the car park after the first visitor center and take a hitchhike ride up to the second visitor center. This is a common practice in the national park and there is a designated hiker pickup point right at the car park. We got a ride within 5 minutes. From the second visitor center you can walk down the crater. After that it's mostly flat. At the end there is 2000ft of elevation along 3 miles. Hiking the trail this way makes it 11 miles instead of 8 but you don't have to go back and forth and can see so much. Also, doing it this way means hiking downhill or on flat terrain for 8miles and only 3 miles at the end uphill.
it was something else. I really enjoyed the challenge of this hike.
