Haleakalā National Park (Wilderness Tent Permit)

Absolutely amazing two nights. I hiked from the summit to Paliku the first night and saw the most stars I've ever seen in my life. Both Paliku and Holua sites are in prime locations where clouds from the sea wash over the land and create a surprisingly lush location (refreshing after hiking over mounds of cinder for hours). Trails are mostly well maintained and had good signage. Approaching Paliku, the trail can be less clear and widens out, but as long as you stick to the mountains you'll be fine. Hiking out of Holua and up the Halemau'u switchbacks gives you a beautiful view of what you thought was barren volcanic rock. It's also less of a climb.

No one ever asked me for my permit, but I did arrive on island with enough time the day before to pop into a public library and add my rental car info and print out a couple copies. At least I had peace of mind that my car would be there waiting for me and not towed.

Dress very warmly for the summit. Winds can be brutal. My wife was blown over on to her back.while talking to another couple and she was wearing a backpack with over 55 lbs. in it

Great campsite. Slept good despite the heavy rains.
I wish the campsites numbers were better indicated. If each campsite had its own sign, it would take away potential confusion among the campers.

Excellent backcountry tent sites. Holua1 is obvious however take time to locate the cleared spots for 2,3, & 4. Out house is just that and not maintained. The sea birds are nocturnal and were on spring break too. We brought a tarp as well as tents to get some extra sun & wind protection. Uber and lyft are not allowed past the entrance. We got dropped off and used the supply trail to access Halemau'u Trail. It was just about 6.2 miles from the entrance to Holua1 via this route.

Haleakala National Park is awesome. Paliku and Holua are great campsites.

Beautiful landscape with well maintained trails. Rangers offered great tips for our over night at the Holua campsite. And can’t beat sunrise from inside the crater. Can’t recommend enough!

We did an overnight hike to Paliku campground. This was a 10 mile hike each way. The hike starts at the top of the summit and winds down into a crater and then flat across to the campground. On the way back we had to hike back up the mountain to the summit. My boyfriend and I live in Vancouver, Canada, are experienced hikers and in great shape. This was one of the HARDEST hikes either of us have done. 1) for the distance 2) the elevation and 3) having to hike up at the end of the hike. It monsooned the whole time at the campground. I'm surprised our tent stayed together. The campground was clean and peaceful though. The trails were well maintained.

Beautiful setting of the campground, far from the main tourism. Easy, but longer hike to the Campground.

Denied re-entry.

Haleakala has a major problem with the reservation system. Now that you don't have to stop at the visitor center to "sign in" and view the video to camp, people make reservations and simply don't show up. They only lose $8 but the rest of us lose the priceless opportunity to tent camp in the crater. For instance, the night I stayed there, the system said all campsites were taken -- I had gotten the last one -- but actually only one other was occupied and the remaining 3 were empty. The young couple at the other campsite said they experienced the same problem at another park campsite -- online everything is taken, but when they arrived, there were many vacant sites. Please figure out a way to open up tent camping to more of us, rather than have the tent sites reserved, but sitting empty! (Always glorious to hike and camp in the crater, just to let newbies know -- that is if you have any chance of getting a reservation.)