Haleakala Sunrise
It is the third day of your much-needed vacation and you are up early. Really early. Not at the crack of dawn. Pre-dawn. 3:15 a.m. As you stumble around the half-darkness of your hotel room half-consciously searching for your camera and a jacket, you have serious doubts about whether this is going to be worth it. It will be.
The trek to Haleakala at sunrise is a defining moment for any Maui visitor. New Age spiritualists believe it holds cosmic significance. One of Maui’s biggest fans, Mark Twain, called the experience "the sublimest spectacle" of his life. And you’re complaining about missing some shut-eye?
Tip: If you go before sunrise, bring a jacket! Dressing in layers is best. In one day, temperatures can vary as much as 50 degrees from the crater floor to the summit.
Even if you don’t manage to make it up before the sun does, rest assured you’ll find plenty of other reasons to visit. Over 1.3 millions people did last year alone. Ironically for the world's largest dormant volcano, Haleakala (which means “House of the sun”) is anything but sleepy.
Haleakala National Park is, by any measure, enormous. Rising 10,023 feet above the glittering Pacific, Haleakala crater is 3,000 feet deep, 7 1/2 miles long by 2 1/2 miles wide.
If you want to journey down to the lunar landscape of the crater you can hike or go by horseback. However you go, just be sure to take plenty of water and sunscreen, the environment is as unforgiving as it is beautiful. For serious adventurers, camping expeditions provide an even greater appreciation for the crater's stark and wondrous environments.
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