Haleakala

Been once it was enough

Mountain bike down the side of a volcano! ok, well there is a road but its still a great ride! 38 miles from crater to the beach. 99% of the trip is downhill. there are two hills you have get over. if you dont carry enough speed off the hill before you wont make it over the next. There is a trip through a town too. The first half was on the side of the mountian. the road has 29 hairpin turns. I went in the morning after the clouds came it. You cant see more than 15 or 20 feet in front of you as you are passing through the cloud layer. I came around one of the turn backs as we came out from the clouds and i could see the whole island. It was insane, I almost crashed LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING! It could get real nasty. the tour guys have lots of stories. The second half is a series of camel backs as you ride down the ridgeline. A stop for lunch at a sandwich shop and youre back on the road. Watch for cars at this point. The locals get a little close for comfort. The trip ends at the beach. No better end to a trip than the beach.

...and don’t forget to eat breakfast before the insane, winding, sickening drive so you won’t dry heave. Seriously, be prepared to get sick if you get the slightest twinge of car sickness. Totally worth it though- and I would go again, barfing on the way up even!

Be sure to bundle up for the sunrise.

While memorable, I suppose, watching the sunrise on Haleakala was not that spectacular to me. (Although, it may be simply that I was 12 and thought sleeping in would have been a better idea.) The drive down the mountain was beautiful though.. and we enjoyed the shots over the island we got from up there.

Bring a coat though, if you do travel up Haleakala for the sunrise. It is freezing before the sun comes up!

Beautiful view then – BANG – completely clouded over. Watch the forecast before going so you can get some good viewing in.

I would recommend this! The view is fantastic from the top, and the visitor center is good.

I did the “mountain biking” tour back before I knew better. The cool part is that you get shuttled up to the observatory on the top of Haleakala to see sunrise—very nice. The bad part is that the mountain biking down is on these crappy bikes and you have to wear these goofy plastic suits. You end up on roads the whole way, and can’t go faster than the slowest person in your group. Avoid the tour at all costs, but do go see Haleakala.

this place is amazing. I really planned on going the first time I was on Maui. But not all cars can go up the world’s steepest highway…