My primary reasoning to choose Maui over the other islands of Hawaii for a winter trip to the tropical islands was Haleakala National Park. It was November of 2019 and I hadn't visited a single new National Park in that year. Covid was barely in the news at that time, and travel concerns seemed far on the horizon. Thus, when we were choosing the islands, we ended up settling on Maui. Due to the throngs that visit Hawaii during the month of December, our Last minute planning meant that we couldn't stay the hotels we desired. However, I was willing to sacrifice all that for a chance to stay within the crater of the National Park.

We snagged the walk-up permits by being first in line at the Park HQ - thankfully very few others had ideas of backpacking while in Hawaii. Hiking into the core of a volcanic crater and viewing the desolate moonscape of volcanic ash mingled with dry vegetation made for a memorable backpack. The icing on the cake was waking up in the middle of the night to watch the star-studded night sky that denizens of the main towns of Maui would hardly be able to experience. This alone makes the National Park a worthwhile visit for any traveler to Maui.

This particular scene is a silhouette of the various tourists posing against the setting sun at the rim of Haleakala.

Haleakala National Park
HI USA