Haleakalā National Park is somewhere that should be on your must list if you ever find yourself in Maui.  The park is home to the dormant Haleakalā Volcano as well as some other unbelievable sights.  We knew it would be neat, but we were surprised by how much we enjoyed our time there and the vastly different beautiful views it has to offer.

Since we already visited the Kīpahulu District on our adventure during the Road to Hana, our focus during our time at Haleakalā National Park was really to explore the Summit District.  This area of the park offers several options for entertainment.  Whether you secure a pass to enter the park before sunrise and watch the magic of it unfolding to booking a guided bike tour to experience the landscape from the back of two wheels to an endless amount of trails.  There is a lot to do at Haleakalā and whatever you choose is really up to you.

Once you get into the park there is still a decent amount of driving involved to make your way up to the top.  Thankfully, there are plenty of turn offs along the way with ample parking and super short trails that end with gasping views.  One of the best parts of the park is that you walk a quarter of a mile, turn a corner and take in a totally unexpected view.  It's amazing!

Finally, we made it to the top of the Summit at an impressive 10,023 feet.  We've never felt so on top of the world.  On one side of the top of the Summit this was our view...

And on the other side, this was our view...

We were literally on top of the clouds.  On top of the world!  It was unlike anything we've seen before.  Such an extraordinary view!  That's one of the greatest things we discovered about the beauty of Maui.  There are breathtaking views across the island and every single one of them is absolutely and completely different.  Maui is special, guys!

We had two choices... we could either sit around and wait for the sun to completely set (we were already taking in some gorgeous colors from it) and then drive back to our resort in the dark OR we could go ahead and head back and then catch a late dinner at Whalers Village.  It had been a super long day and we weren't thrilled about the idea of driving back in total darkness so we headed back for home base knowing we had close to two hours or so of driving.

When we arrived back to the resort and valet discovered we did both the Road to Hana and Haleakalā in the same day they pretty much told us we were crazy.  We were so happy we were able to check both of these off our list in the same day to make the most of this "adventure day" and leave more time during the remainder of our trip to stick closer to the resort and relax.

If you didn't see the first part of our day exploring the Road to Hana, check that out HERE.

And if you missed the other posts from our Five Moon in Maui, you can find them here:
DAY ONE
DAY TWO