Back in 2004 of December I was in Maui, Hawaii watching a beautiful sunrise come above the clouds of a volcano; around the same time a massive tsunami destroyed much of Asia. It’s been 9 years since I’ve been to Hawaii but I do remember it well and there was one event that my family did that should be on the top of everybody’s to do list. If you ever find yourself in Maui, Hawaii you must bike down Mt. Haleakala.
Mt. Haleakala is a shield volcano with an elevation of 10,023 feet, the highest in Maui and one of the highest in Hawaii. But the adventure doesn’t begin at the top of the volcano. No! First it usually begins in your resort city and back in 2004 it was popular to stay in Lahaina, Maui (I’m assuming it’s still popular to stay there but you never know), a resort city on the other side of the island.
My family had to wake up really early, around 2 to 3 in the morning. The reason is that the tour company must get you to the top of the mountain before the sunrise and they also have to prep you for the bike ride down the mountain.
So we get into this van, and I believe there are other people with us, and we go to the tour company’s facility and get fitted for our bike outfits as well as pick out our bikes and train for the long descent down the volcano. The tour is actually quite long and it’s all downhill (38 miles); you barely have to pedal! I think that s the official slogan for some of the companies! The path is quite long and will take you from the top of Mt. Haleakala to a beach somewhere near Paia.
After getting fitted and going through the training videos, everybody gets back into the van and we all head up to the top of Mt. Haleakala. Everything is dark outside and once we start making the ascent up the volcano, we go through switch back after switch back. Nothing horrible but it’s definitely noticeable in the car. Everybody is trying to sleep and wondering how cold it will be at the top. Surprisingly it does get very cold and was somewhere around in the 30’s in the morning hours. Not what you would think for Maui weather!
At the top we all get out and get our cold weather gear on. This is where going with a tour group comes in handy. Anybody could go by themselves but a tour group helps out with the cold weather gear needed at the top and has a van to transfer all the bikes and equipment. They will even help if you’re getting sick or are in trouble.
Now we all waited for the sunrise to come over Maui and it happens somewhere in the six o’clock hour. There will be crowds of people moving around trying to stay warm and the area will start to fill up closer to sunrise. I thought it was breathtaking and absolutely worth it to get up and see it. Mt. Haleakala after all is called the House of the Sun! People will be vying for the perfect place but everybody should get a picture of the rising sun over the clouds. Occasionally I saw planes passing by and I could definitely see the stars from the dark top of the volcano. Everything up there is illuminated by the moon and you can see the observatory that sits on top.
So the sunrise happens and then it’s time to ride. Everybody is already in their cold weather gear and gets their helmets and gear on. Riding down is not a very strenuous task because the only thing you really need to know how to do is to break. I even saw older people do it. But they did warn us that people do get into trouble and it’s a good idea to know how to break properly. There are no guard rails going down but because you are going at a slow even pace, nobody should have a problem.
The view is breathtaking as we descended down. Now the island is covered with sun and we could see all across the island. Every now and then the tour would stop so that we could all get pictures of us on the bikes and of the rest of Maui. Honestly, we actually did descend pretty fast and we followed the same switchbacks as when we came up. I don’t remember it being scary or challenging so I assume that it wasn’t.
As we got further down we noticed that it was getting much warmer. Maui averages about 70’s and 80’s for most of the year so most people started shedding off their clothes as soon as they started to descend. That did feel nice and it was great to have a breeze as we got closer to the coast. Somewhere along the way, if your tour comes with this, you will stop at a lodge and eat a meal. It’s a nice little break and actually was pretty good. And then you continue the 38 mile bike ride down to the beach where the tour finishes! After that the tour will take you back to your resort.
Now it has been a while and I don’t remember the exact tour company, however I know there different tours you can take. You could do this all by yourself, although I’m not sure I would recommend that, or you could get a tour company to help with all the logistics. There are some tours that start at 6,500 feet instead of 10,000 feet so that it’s just outside of the Haleakala National Park. I would stick with the one that starts at the top of the mountain instead of halfway down. There is also a choice between the sunrise tour and the afternoon tour. Although you do have to wake up early it’s probably better to go with the sunrise tour. That’s what I did and I loved the sunrise.
Here are some tours to consider
Maui is full of interesting tours like this one and the island really does have many things to offer. I’d say that bike riding down a volcano should be near the top of your to do list if you make it to Maui. I will for sure write more about the island of Maui and some of the other activities I did while on the island!
images by: shawnvoyage, stephanie
