Hiking Through The Volcanic Oasis - Part II
As someone who doesn’t normally engage in social media or watch TV, it’s been interesting becoming someone who regularly utilizes these spaces to produce content. I don’t like what social media does to people, but I think when it's used mindfully, it can be a space for inspiration and connection. The internet is such an expansive place; maybe the algorithm will lead my content to someone who needs it. So here's hoping you, as a reader, need this particular content. This is my second day of backpacking in the Haleakala National Park, waking up at Paliku Campground.
Paliku Campground
We woke up in the fog at Paliku Campground, rainy and drizzly. It was windy all night to the point where our rainfly was pressing against the sides of the walls of our tent. It was beautiful waking up, and the air felt cool. After being in the city, it's an odd feeling being able to hear quiet noise. It's a hard thing to describe. When we arrived at the crater, my ears were ringing. The quiet still felt loud from all of the overstimulation. Here, there was no disturbance, only wind and birds and the slight tap tap of rain and mist sprinkling on our rainfly.
Image Source: Paige Combs, “Paliku Campground in the Morning,” June 2026.
Image Source: Paige Combs, “Bright and Early,” June 2026.
I got up and did my normal routine. Forced myself out of my sleeping bag to get outside to pee. I opened my rainfly slightly so I could see the views while I cooked my food. All of our things were damp from the moisture in the air. It brought back memories from SoCal and Oregon, getting trapped in storms over and over again. Once Neapolitan was awake, we had a slow morning out and packed up our things to continue our hike.
Day 3
We hiked our final jaunt to Holua Campground, only 6 miles for the day was planned. The conditions totally shifted once we got out of the pocket of clouds around Paliku. No longer stuck with mist and rain, we came out of the cloud patch up into volcanic rock. We had more ascent planned today, but not much, only about 1,000 feet. The scenery shifted from tropical greens to volcanic rock to volcanic sand. We walked by the Holi’i crater, and the sands were a vibrant yellow and red. There were jagged rocks and mist in our vision, with an unmaintained trail sign. Neapolitan and I toyed with the idea of coming back to check it out, but the day had other things in store for us.
We took a pause about 1.5 miles away from Holua Campground after seeing the dark, dense clouds that lay ahead of us. Considering our options, we knew our gear would never dry in that cloud layer, so we took a quick break around 10 AM and spread out our gear. It dried fairly quickly, given the hot sun. We were trying to avoid as much sunlight as possible due to our sunburns. Neapolitan was hit the hardest. Reminders for next time: bring sunscreen.
Friends at Holua Campground
After our break, we hiked through sand in the final stretch to Holua. We identified our neighbor campers, who stayed at the cabin at Paliku: Amy and Sandy. We chatted a bit, offered ibuprofen, and filtered their water. Their kids were hiking behind them. Sandy had blisters that were slowing her down, and Amy had a flight out that night after they finished their backpacking trip. Both were worried about finishing on time.
Neapolitan and I were eyeing the weather while eating our lunch with our friends at the picnic table. The Nēnē honked and hung out near us. They were thirsty and stealing water from my filter as I walked back and forth from the spigot. The mist and clouds were stuck in Holua campground, too. Our tent was dry, but the moment we set it up, we knew it would be wet again.
Image Source: Paige Combs, “Nēnē Nibbling,” June 2026.
Once their kids popped up, we all got to chattin'. They offered to give us a ride if we wanted to hike the last 4 miles today. I really couldn’t turn down the offer. We both agreed to hike the last miles out of Holua with them instead of camping for the night.
The Final Miles
Our final miles were gorgeous despite the mist and cold. The tropical container that held the crater wrapped around us. It was a quick mile to the switchbacks for our climb back to the road. We hiked with our other three new friends, Noah, Sage, and Kehlani. It was a fairly steep and rocky climb, but nothing too challenging. We worked our way up to the Rainbow Bridge, which was also socked in with fog. There we met another family from Santa Cruz. We chatted about aliens and...Santa Cruz. You know, the typical things. We got photos of them, and then they were on their way.
The family we planned to hitch back with trailed behind us and took a small break at the top before we continued. The final miles up were easy. We climbed out of the clouds back into the sun. A beautiful day just on the outside of the cloud bank.
We adored our hitch back. They offered us seltzers, and despite my offering cash for the ride, they declined. We got dropped off at our hotel and finished our trip. Got our showers and nursed our burnt skin. Switching our flights, we were able to come home a day sooner and see our pup, Kona. Who has now become best friends with our neighbor.
Stats in the Wilderness
Temperature Range: 68° - 77°
General Location: Halemau'u Trail to Hiker Pickup - Haleakala National Park in Maui
Interesting Fact: Nēnē are the rarest goose in the world, only found on the Hawaiian islands.
Whose land am I on? Learn why it’s important to respect the land we travel on.
