Cheap Things to do in Hawaii: Biking down the Haleakala Volcano in Maui
Maui was a dream for my hubby and I. We loved every second of our ten nights there spent with our family – even getting majorly carsick on the road to Hana. I furiously googled and searched to prepare for our trip to Maui, Hawaii. Plan, plan, plan! I needed to find out what we “couldn’t miss” on our trip to this beautiful Hawaiian island. I came across biking down Haleakala Volcano and knew it was something we would love to do, but would everyone else in the family? I definitely get my adventurous nature from my dad – my mom is definitely more of a scaredy-cat for lack of a better word. Haha! I never want to leave anyone out so I made sure to get a general consensus on how everyone felt about this half-day trip. I was VERY shocked to know that my mom (and dad) have actually biked down that volcano before when they visited Maui when they were younger! She and a couple of others passed on the bike trip (there was a more exciting Castle marathon on TV). We tease them about the Castle marathon, but they really did skip out on a beach day because Castle was on! Haha! Biking may not be for everyone though I sure did have fun!
I am not a morning person. I’m not a grouch – I just don’t talk or have an emotions whatsoever in the morning. Especially at 3am. The Haleakala Bike Tour Company shuttle bus conveniently picked us up at our hotel – which was awesome, but our guide was extra peppy which made me cringe at that hour. But he was genuinely just a charismatic person which eventually started to rub off on us – even at 3am we had fun! We drove up to the top of the volcano to watch the sunrise so naturally it was dark while we were driving up the twisty turny road. If you get carsick bring your dramamine! We finally arrived and it. was. freezing. I, luckily did my research before-hand and knew it would be cold so I relayed the warm-attire message to everyone, but I didn’t realize it would be THAT cold. Early morning AND cold weather? My worst nightmare. Luckily, there is an observatory/gift shop. We shamelessly squished in the foyer with strangers to hide from the cold. We decided to watch the sunrise from inside the building once it opened up. We are from Texas! We’re not use to those freezing temps! :) The sunrise was beautiful. Every couple of minutes I would take a photo because it just kept getting better and better.
After the sunrise, we corralled back at the van to get our gear on to bike down the volcano. We were fully equipped with motorcycle helmets and gloves. I thought the helmets were a little much at first, but as we started the bike ride down the volcano I realized they were VERY necessary. We biked at about 30 mph on the twisty-turny roads. It was a little scary at first – especially with oncoming traffic driving on the other side of the road. One small wrong turn or fall could be serious. The views are stunning when you can pry your eyes off of the road in front of your bike tire. It is surprising to see so many different landscapes on one small island. Towards the top it is so cold and you will see pine trees then you will hit some very green farmland then comes the ride through a beachy community and then lastly, straight on down to the beach itself. As you get further and further down the climate changes dramatically and you shed layer after layer of clothing as it gets hotter down towards the beach. It was so surprising to feel the climate change and see the scenery around us literally transform before our eyes! Take a look at our video recap of us biking down the Haleakala volcano in Maui, Hawaii below!
Stopped to eat breakfast at a cute cafe with AMAZING food!!
^ That was our bike tour guide on the handlebars! haha! He was a quite a character!
Check out The Haleakala Bike Company for online reservations!
Here’s the video recap of the sunrise tour biking down the Haleakala Volcano in Maui
Traveling to Hawaii? Check out these affordable rentals!
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