Haleakala excursion query

[fionan]

What I really want to do is some hiking in the Haleakala crater, but there is no ship excursion, and the only general excursions I can find start too early for the ship timetable and do not offer a pier pickup, unless a group books and I am travelling solo on a full ship charter. So, a couple of queries:

 

How long do you get to walk around on your own at the top of the volcano on the ship's tour that is basically a coach trip up the mountain and back down again (tour time is billed as 5 hours round trip, so if I knew the time it takes to get from the pier to the top of the mountain I could make a guess).

 

Does anyone know of a company that will do a pier pickup for a hiking excursion? I have spent hours on google using all the key words I can think of.

[Spikesgirl]

One suggestion would be to rent a car and just drive up there. It would certainly be faster than a bus and as long as you keep track of your time, you should be okay. It's easy to find the way - the road is very windy, lots of switchbacks, but it's not hard to drive. If you take a tour, you will be taken to the top and allowed to wander in that area for a bit, usually it's about half an hour, so you can glance at the volcano in between lining up for the toilets or the gift shop. There is a ranger station about halfway up on the right side of the road, stop off there and ask about suggested heigths. Remember that you will have altitude to deal with and that some of the areas are off limits.

 

Charlie

[NeoJava]

Fionan, I've done the hike down into Haleakala and I would suggest that you NOT do this hike alone. There will probably be a number of people doing the same hike as you and you will see people all day no doubt BUT STILL, you should never do a hike like Haleakala alone. The hike itself is pretty awesome. The one we did went into the crater from the parking lot at the summit and ended at a lookout point about a mile from the top (if memory serves). At the start of the hike it's pretty unspectacular, just black gravel, switchbacks into the crater but when you reach the floor you see MORE black rock and eventually come to some very strange vegetation, and later a tropical rain forest (at least that's what it's classified) and you pass by a cabin people reserve for camping overnight before climbing back up a cliff (switchbacks of course) to the end of the the trail. Pretty exhausting but very worth it. Took better then three of four hours I believe.

 

If you don't have at least one hiking buddy, don't do this hike. Also BRING LOTS OF WATER if you do the hike. You will be dehydrated within a half hour otherwise.

ENJOY HAWAII!

Glenn