2015/11/25 Wednesday 4:25pm flight from PDX. Friendly attendants, lots of kids, including one relentless screaming one. Theres an agriculture declare form, collected by the stewardess. Not sure if they are checked. Arrived at OGG at 8:30pm (2 hours behind). Upper 70s? From below 30F, I stripped to T-shirt. Pick up car at 9pm, but Hertz is so slow. By the time I have the car, it had past Sports Authority's closing time (9:30pm). I drove to Kmart to look for isobutane fuel canister, because when I called 2 weeks ago, I was informed that it carried MSR cans. But none. Kmart closed at 10pm. I tried Walmart which closes at 11. Only propane and butane. Called Target too, same story. No cooking for me for the next 2 days. Bought OJ and bread, used the restroom. Had to turn AC on briefly (yes this late).
The drive to Hosmer Campground of Haleakala national park takes 40-45 minute. All paved, but winding. I got a bit dizzy. The almost-full moon was so bright despite of the clouds. the view is nice. At about 3500', I entered cloud and mist. Broke in and out of clouds, drizzle at stretches. By the time I reached the camp, it was only sprinkle. 2 rather spacious pit toilets. 1 sink with foam soap outside. Pitched my cheap tent without needing my headlamp. Saw only 1 other car, 2 other tents. ~6860'. Warmer than I thought, maybe high 50Fs? Excellent cell reception.
11/26 Thursday. Up at 5:40am. Drove to summit visitor center (9740') at 6, shooting for the 6:30 sunrise. Slower cars slowed everyone behind. Parking lot filled up. I tripled parked in the bus packing zone, following examples. A short walk up to Pa Ka'oao. Another hundred people here. I might be a bit too late, the sun was up, just behind the clouds. Pretty. Walked down as soon as the sun broke out of the clouds: way too bright to see well. Reparked my car. At the small visitor center (open sunrise to 3pm), 3 employees, one outside, 2 inside. Here's where to get wilderness camping permit. Restrooms are in different buildings. Running toilet. Blow dryer. Foam soap. Outside has a drinking water fountain, that does not shoot high enough for my water bottle. Scatchy cell signal. Drive back to camp for breakfast. Chatted with a couple (Californian girl, Big Island boy), inquiring where they bought their fuel canister. Ace Hardware. They are to hike to Kapalaoa Cabin for the night.
8:45am. Ranger-led bird walk to Waikamoi Preserve. 3 hours. 500', 3 miles RT. 15 people showed up. I registered 1 week ahead as instructed. The group was already full, but since I'm a party of 1, the ranger kindly added me to #15. Very slow going, even though we were all there by 8:30. Our Maui born guide Keith is talkative, quite entertaining, caters to both kids and birders. He lent us binoculars and hiking poles. Saw some endemic plants, Koa, Ohelo, Aalii, Lobelia Grayana by a creek in the gulch. Saw one bird Iiwi clearly. Saw 3 of them flying, but that was too quick. Very pretty. Bright red. We finished at 12:30. Slow, muddy, wet, no good view to speak of. I also fell once on slippery rock, so muddier than most.
A couple of my options for the afternoon are closed for Thanksgiving holiday (Maui Wine, and Surfing Goat). Decided to take it easy and take a nap. Lunch at the camp. Drizzled at some point: drove me from my picnic table to the shelter. A group of local were starting their Thanksgiving picnic in the shelter. One of them commented on the rain-washed roads, and he had to drive longer to get here. So I may have to avoid the unpaved section of Piilani hwy around Kaupo.
Drove up to summit (10023'). On the way, wash my muddy clothes at the visitor center. Sunny now. Great view all around: Big Island (from the pavilion), west Maui (from the red hill). 
The circular pavilion with glass windows shelters weather elements. Some photo illustrations inside. One showed a caterpillar (whose ancestors are herbivores) eating a moth. A bit windy. Not very cold for this elevation, maybe 50F? In the middle of the parking loop, a garden of Silverswords, an extraordinary plant. They live about 50 years, but only flower once, and when they do, it has ten to hundred thousands of flowers for a few weeks. Then, they die. I tried to nap, while drying my pants and socks in the car and shoes on roof: very warm in the car, as it's sunny. Unsuccessful. Ate, packed for tomorrow. Walked down the observatory road to Skyline trail. In 10 minutes, crossed park boundary. Asphalt cracked. Continued 5-10 more minutes, you can view the southern shore. Surprising, this trail is not marked on the park map, so I saw no one. 
Back to the summit for sunset. Parking lot filled up. Sunset is better here, because the crater was in shadow way before sunset. So the better view is to the west. No cell reception. By 6pm, most people are gone. At 6:10, a bus of Japanese arrived, marked stargazing. When I stopped by visitor center restroom before heading to my camp, the minibus also arrived, finished their 10 minute stargazing? It's darker now, but light pollution from the restrooms and the cities below is significant. I could barely make out the milky way. At 7pm, moon was up, at the moment behind the clouds. 5 cars already at Hosmer Grove campground, when I arrived.
11/27, Friday. Up at 5:15am hoping to see better color before sunrise. A lot of commotion around 5, as people are getting ready to leave. Definitely more than 5 cars. After breakfast, drove to Halemauu TH (18 min, 8000'). Missed the turn, because I was passing slower cars ahead of me. At the visitor center parking lot, I was turned away. Parked in Halahaku Lookout, by the road, so many cars behind mine. Worried that I won't be able to hitch a ride at this hour, as everyone is driving down, rather than up. I drove up to the visitor center, used the restroom. Only started hiking at 7:20, over an hour past my plan. Sliding Sands trail is wide, gentle, most of the time very easy footing. Met a few hikers. 
Saw some Silversword, one blooming! First trail junction is at ~4 miles, where everyone seems to (re)turned. Here you are in the crater floor. I continued to Kapalaoa Cabin, at mile 5.9. All flat. Grassy. Pretty. Tried to eat, but the clouds were moving in, so I put on a poncho, didn't linger. One Nene (Hawaii state bird) approached. I took a bunch of photos. When I consulted my map for just a minute, he disappeared. It turns out that he went under the picnic table (rain shelter?). I squat to take one more photo, and found a second Nene under the table.
There're 3 trails going north close by the cabin. I chose the furtherest one, since I was doing okay on time, but didn't want to risk going all the way to Paliku Cabin, only 2 miles away (adding maybe 3 miles to my track, almost all leveled). Going over some lava land. Not many people hiked here. Trail is not obvious some times. I had to check my GPS map a couple of times. Maybe only 1 mile. Once it hits Halemauu trail, it was obvious again. No sign though. 
Drizzle in and out. West to Holua Cabin. Shower started. Here and north are green and grassy. 4 miles to TH. In 1 mile, you reach the crater wall and a gate. 
Going up zigzag for maybe 1.5 miles. It's my favorite part of the trail. It's so green, a completely different world than the southern part of the crater. However for better view, I had to wait for the brief moments when clouds dissipate somewhat. Once you reach the plateau, you lost the view of the crater, and I lost the trail. I consulted my GPS map (even Google map has these trails), until I found many orange/blue ribbons right on where trail is supposed to be on my phone. So I followed the ribbons and didn't look at the map again. What a mistake! Because it was by then very cloudy if not rainy, visibility was poor, by the time the clouds cleared out a bit, the ribbons have taken me way off, above the parking lot. Cross country over wet vegetation made me very dirty and soggy. My shoes were squeaking. That's a waste of ~1 hour, plus washing time later. It was already 3:30pm. Saw 2 Nenes at the TH parking lot.
Walked down the road a bit to wait at the hiker pickup pullout. Didn't wait long. The 4th car picked me up: a dad with 2 sons (one son was driving). He told me that they just drove the northern part of West Maui - another section banned by my rental car company. Entirely paved now. Parking at the visitor center turns out to be a good option: it allows me to wash up. My phone logged over 43K steps, maybe 16 miles, including detours, bad turns. A better route would be taking the left most (shorter) north trail from Kapalaoa Cabin, or if you start early, go all the way to Paliku Cabin, where it's possible to hike above the ridge NE for a view of the west east. I really like the two cabins I visited. I'm sure I'll like the 3rd.
I must have Alzheimer's, I completely forgot about my tent, drove down to Ace Hardware at Makawao to buy a fuel canister. Don't recall how I realized that my tent was still up in the mountain 6500' above. Sadly returned to fetch it, contemplating staying another night. It was 6:30pm then, and Hosmer Grove was a zoo. So many tents, people, cars parked on road. A gigantic tipi right by my tent. Stars were a bit better, as you cannot see the cities below. I packed up, cooked my dinner and drove out of the park (again).
