We were up at 3am for a start time of 4. Having gone to bed at 7p, it wasn’t so bad (to be honest, we went to bed not long after that most nights that we were in Maui… old farts.)
We went with the Haleakala Bike Company, since they’re the only group that lets you go on your own. The rest drive you to the top, and then you ride down as a group.
About the crater
Apparently it’s not a crater proper. Because it’s missing parts of its sides, it doesn’t get to live up to the word crater. I can’t remember what the hell it’s really called, but everyone I’ve ever talked to calls it the Haleakala crater, and so that’s what I’m calling it here. Get over it.
4am Start
We arrived at the Haleakala Bike Company storefront and were greeted by two other bleary-eyed bikers. We were a total of 8 by the time we headed up to the crater.
Our tour guide Frank talked the whole time. Like a speedy cartoon character. He’s a font of knowledge, and damnit if he wasn’t going to tell us everything he knew in the time he had us as a captive audience.
We got up to the top of the crater about 20 minutes before sunrise. It was cold. Like 2 sweatshirts and still freezing cold. I didn’t bring my cold weather gear because we were going to Maui, and perhaps that was an oversight.
The sunrise was beautiful.
The Ride Down
Because of a casualty in the park, which is at the top of the volcano (a woman ended up under a truck when she took a corner too wide,) you’re not allowed to ride down from the top. Frank drove us down to our designated drop-off point, and we were off on our own. It took about 45 minutes to get to the bottom, at times going a little faster than I was comfortable with (and at all times slower than Megan would have liked 
), and we stopped in the middle at The Lodge for breakfast.
The view from The Lodge is great, and I’d bet it’s a hot spot for romantic dinners.
We passed a lot of other tours on our way down, making us feel solid in our decision to do it on our own… neither of us is really that interested in a guided tour of anything, so we would have likely felt frustrated by being penned into a group.
My ass was non-plussed by the time we got to the bottom… it’s not used to an hour on a bike.
It’s a nice excursion… and a view that you can’t get anywhere else. I’m not sure we’d do it again, but it’s certainly a fun way to spend an early morning on Maui.
