Haleakala Sun Rise

[RVINCEN]

Have you gone to Haleakala to see the sun rise? What time did you arrive?

We will be coming from Kahului. How long does it take to drive from there?

[Topaz325]

Sunrise on Haleakala can be beautiful. While it's been awhile I believe we arrived about 5:30am for a 6:00am sunrise and then cruised down the hill on bicycles to Paia Town with a breakfast stop along the way. Very invigorating in the cool mountain air and almost no peddling at all. There are several companies that offer this and they do hotel pick-ups and drop offs.

 

If your going on your own and driving up from Kahului you should allow for at least an 1 1/2 before sunrise to make sure you don't miss anything. Bring your jackets, it's cold up there in the morning.

 

Hope you enjoy!

[seabreezer]

You should check the internet for the sunrise time for the day you want to go. There may also be a sunrise link on the National Park website for Haleakala. That website will tell you everything you need to know however there's no predicting what the weather will be like. We left Wailea at 3:30 AM with clear skies and by the time we got to the summit at 5:30 visibility was only about 50 yards and it was raining in sheets. It was about 35 degrees. There were already about 100 people there and the parking lot was filling up and if you had to park in the lower parking lot I don't know how you could have made the walk up to the observation deck without a flashlight and foul weather gear! An alternative is to go for sunset - you may be able to see up the mountain on the way to determine if it'll be clear and it may not be as crowded.

[gotta_cruise_again]

We drove to the top of Haleakala on our trip to Hawaii and it was incredible. It was approximately a 2 hour drive from the pier and a very curvy road. I think we planned to meet the others by 2:00-2:30 AM and get a tender to shore and get our rental car.....etc. All that takes a little time so allow for that. Being above the clouds and watching the sunrise was so magical. The pictures turned out magnificent also.

Two words of caution.....it is extremely cold up there so take coats and blankets from the cabin. And some people have a hard time breathing from the altitude, so keep that in mind. There are lots of bikers also that you have to watch for on the drive down. Enjoy!!!! It was one of the highlights of our trip. Sharon

[cattolica]

We just returned from a trip to Maui yesterday. We did the sunrise at Haleakala last Friday. What an amazing experience!!! It was COLD! We flew into Maui on Thursday and got up early for our sunrise on Friday morning since we would still be on "California time". We drove ourselves from Kaanapali and it took us about 2 hours. Be sure to take some snacks as well as those warm clothes. Believe me, you don't want to be in shorts!

[10X]

We did this in 2004 and loved it. I agree with everyone else about the cold and getting there early.

 

We had a great morning, right up until the sun began to peek through. It was then that the clouds moved in a somewhat obscured the sunrise. I took pictures anyway and posted them here. They are mixed in with some of the other photographs but most are at the end of the 57 pictures that are there.

 

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4074962&a=31166402&f=

[pbinn]

we went this last friday. rented a car and drove up there for the sunset. kind of was a last minute decision when we were over near Lahaina, so i wasnt prepared for the cold. luckily i had beach towels which i wrapped around myself. i guess it took about 2 hours from lahaina to get up to the top. It was very cool being up above the clouds and you could see the big island sticking out from the clouds. it was beautiful, but cold ...got to 47 degrees up there. I even took a picture of the rear view mirror in the car that had the outside temp!!!

[sceptic]

Advice for the cold: bring the blankets from your cabin (assuming this is allowed and they don't suspect you of attempting to sell the blankets at a local flea market), expecially for dawn. A LOT of the people at the summit are wrapped in blankets, and I doubt they hauled them from the mainland.