Haleakalā National Park (Cabin Permits)

We enjoyed staying at Paliku Cabin in Haleakala on December 20, 2023, with a family of 9–3 siblings and our grown kids. There was little toilet paper when we arrived, and the rangers come over and resupplied us. They were staying at the ranger cabin, fortunately. We had a delicious warm dinner, thanks to the gas burner, and the wood burning stove. It had rained all day, and we got an early night—in bed by 8 pm. The next morning, my daughter was surprised to find a mouse had eaten her dry oatmeal meant for breakfast, and another mouse had eaten through a plastic snack container of nuts, chocolate and dried fruit, that I left in my backpack on the floor. Lesson learned: food in the kitchen and food left on the dining table were not nibbled by mice.

Well, I was just checking to see if there were ANY openings in the crater, and as luck would have it, there was one. So we built a trip around that. The nature of the system makes it VERY difficult to find success, but I can't think of any other way to structure it. Friends were stunned at my chance success.

I love the place and we had an overall great time but there were mice running about eating through our food.

I’ve stayed in all of the cabins, multiple times, over the past 15 years, mostly on horseback. Here are my tips for future hikers and campers:
• Bring lighters/matches and newsprint and light cardboard to get fire started. The Durologs provided in the cabin take awhile to really get burning.
• You will want warm fuzzy slippers to wear inside the cabin, especially at night.
• Bring scouring powder & scouring pads to scrub the pots and pans, cleanliness is subjective to the previous cabin occupants if you know what I mean.
• Bring tongs and a small hand broom and dustpan. Also bring salt & pepper, clothespins, and sarongs to hang in the windows as curtains. Bring fairy lights- miniature strings of lights battery operated- to hang around the cabin for ambiance & subtle lighting.
• The wood stoves are not big enough to bake food inside anymore. Used to be able to make pizzas or biscuits or cobbler or pies, not any more.
• If you’re going to “donate” leftover food items, please label and date them. Campers with allergies and sensitivities thank you in advance.
• We hiked down Sliding Sands to the cabin (approx 3 hours), and we hiked out of the crater on switchbacks. (Approx 5 hours). Highly suggest bringing 2 vehicles if you do this; one vehicle parked at the summit parking lot and the other vehicle parked at the switchbacks trailhead parking lot. It was after sunset when we reached the parking lot and it was impossible to hitchhike up 6 mi to the summit parking lot.
• Don’t take rocks and don’t stack rocks. Repeat: Do Not Take Rocks.
• Highly advisable to bring your own cleaning supplies. And then take them with you, no one wants to use your dirty rags.
This cabin was the dirtiest I’ve ever seen. Previous campers hadn’t wiped the counters down or swept the floor. We hiked out a huge bag of rubbish not ours. Have fun and enjoy!

Great facilities but always good to come prepared with a full kit.

It was one of the most magical experiences ever!!

Clear weather brought a spectacular night sky. Kapalaoa cabin has new flooring and roof, the outhouse has been relocated to a new "hole". So good to see efforts to improve these venerable and much used/loved cabins. Remember to bring fire starters and try to pack out not only your own stuff, but things left by others, e.g. old towels, sponges, empty packaging, candle stubs. Good for your trail karma.

Entered via Sliding Sands, stayed one night at Paliku and one night at Kapalaoa and exited via Halemau'u Trail. Paliku was lush and rainy and Kapalaoa had nene geese in the yard with unreal stars at night. Beautiful sunsets at each cabin.

Both cabins were clean and in good shape. Paliku is rustic and the Kapalaoa flooring seems like it was recently updated. They each had pots/pans, plates, cups, utensils, a propane burner and compressed wood for the stove. You definitely need a fire starter or some way to light the wood. We brought a water filter.

It was an amazing experience.