Haleakala National Park

The hiking trails are rugged and strenuous. Hiking off trails is strictly prohibited. There are a great many trails in the the crater and their total length is (at least) 27 miles, but the time it takes to hike them can be from as little as an hour to as much as three days.

There is a half mile self-guiding nature trail at Hosmer Grove. On this trail you will experience an elevation change of 120 feet.

Two trails depart from the summit area, Halemau'u and Sliding Sands. On our adventure we chose to enter the crater on the Sliding Sands Trail. We spent time clearing the trail of rocks and later went up the Switchbacks, a very steep and seemingly endless experience.