While on the Island of Maui, we hiked trails every day.    The best of these hikes was a loop route on Haleakala.    The road to the summit climbs to 10 000 feet.    From the trailhead area, the trails descend into the crater.    there are 48 km of trails in Haleakala National Park.   We chose to hike the Sliding Sands Trail through the volcanic desert, then we looped back on the Halemau’u Trail to the Holu’a Cabin, and then climbed up a steep switchback trail to the rim, for a 18.5 km hike.

From the summit area we descended down the barren slopes on the Sliding Sands Trail.

In the center area of the wide (12 km across) crater are a number of smaller crater cones and lava flow features.

The Sliding Sands Trail (Keonehe‘ehe‘e) has a surface of volcanic cinder and ash.   The trail winds down to the bottom of the crater.

On this early November day we saw no one along the trails.    All of the junctions were signed.

The Halemau’u Trail wound around stark volcanic features on its way to the rim walls.

The Holu’a Cabin is one of three wilderness cabins in the park.    Backpackers can book the cabin to camp in the crater.   While we were there for an afternoon break, we saw native nene  (Branta sandvicensis), the endemic Hawai’an goose.

The next part of the trail angled up through the lower slopes below the rim, then zig-zagged up the steep crater walls to the top.

There is no shuttle service back to the top, but there are signs posted encouraging drivers to pick up hikers.   We were grateful for a driver who took us to the top.

This was our favorite hike of the year, one we would be pleased to do again.    If you are on Maui, drive to the top to explore Haleakala National Park.