Haleakala and Road to Hana in the same day
 

Is it possible to do sunrise at Haleakala and the road to Hana on the same day? Has anyone done this, and if so was it too much for one day?

not possible if you do haleakala with a tour company doing the bike ride. maybe if you drive up yourself, watch the sunrise adn drive right down then you could do it but you'll be exhausted.

i am the only person i've ever met who says this but the sunrise on haleakala is overrated and not worth killing a day by getting up early for.

Any other opinions? We're not planning to do a tour, so that's not a problem. I'm really interested in whether anyone has done this. What was it like?

I suppose it could be done, but do you really want to? Way too much time driving and you'll spend the day rushing on through just to get back. For either drive you want to take your time and enjoy the sights, sounds and smell--otherwise why bother?

If you are staying overnight in Hana it is very doable. If you are planning on making rt, forget about it.

i'm with ediegirl. the view is great from haleakala (if no clouds!) sunrise isn't a must.. the road to hana is long and time consuming, it's vacation, you shouldn't rush! i'd just pick one. If you are into road touring, go to hana, if you are into activities go to haleakala and then go snorkel for the day, relax you are in hawaii!

No way.

I guess I'm the only person who has ever thought of doing this. The only reason I ask is because I'm not normally a morning person, but with the time change I figured why not try both on the same day. I figured after sunrise I'd be closer to Hana and early enough to make a go of it. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

anna,

If you're just talking timewise, you can definitely do it.

I don't know where you're staying, but from Kahului, it will take you a couple hours to get to the crater. A bit shorter to get back down to Hana highway, and about 3 hours to get to Hana.

So figure you see the sunset at around 6:00 or so, take a couple pictures and start back down around 6:30, you'd be in Hana by around 11:00 or so. Then the three hour drive back to Kahului.

So time wise, you can definitely do it.

Fatigue wise, well, that's another story.

Anna,
We tried the Haleakala and the Road to Hana on the same day over 20 years ago. It was January, there was less daylight.
We did not see the sunrise on Haleakala, we got there about 9 a.m. approx.
We thought we were going to die. We drove the entire Hana Highway, the road got incredibly narrow, and it got very dark.
We will be driving the Hana Highway again this year. We will not do the crater in the same day.

Regarding sunrise on Haleakala, I'm with ediegirl.... to me its overrated a bit also. We had done it in the past, dodged the frozen puddles up there in the dark, shivered a lot, and asked "Is this all there is to it?" Yes, it was kind of fun, and glad that I did it once, but it was not a life altering experience, and while we have gone up Halaeakala again, it was after a full night's sleep. We will be in Maui next Thursday night, and I flipped on the TV last night, and coincidentally, here was a travel show on Maui, and there was that sunrise, with 400 people up there, and about 12,000 teeth chattering! We have also done the bike ride down, the "unescorted tour" that starts at the Park boundary, and that was a lot of fun also, but again, another thing we don't need to repeat. Hey, we now have another 8 days in Maui coming, and so many more new things to do.... can't wait!

It is possible if you do not want to spend a lot of time out of your car hiking around. I mean, if you just want to drive the road and make small stops, you could totally do it.