The Keonehe’ehe’e, or Sliding Sands, Trail is located in Maui at the summit of Haleakala National Park. This trail goes on for many miles across the entire valley floor of the crater. We did not hike that far. In fact, we only hiked about 0.25 mile in before turning around, but you get a small taste of walking inside the crater. I would love to go back one day and hike the entire trail because it looks amazing. But if you are with kids and family, like we were, then the first 0.5 mile roundtrip of Keonehe’ehe’e, or Sliding Sands, Trail is a short, easy hike at Haleakala. If you want to hike the full trail, it is 11 miles, and that is not roundtrip. Read more on the National Park website.
Trailhead
The Sliding Sands trail begins at the opposite side of the parking lot from the Visitor Center. There is a large sign, so it is hard to miss. Follow the trail around the small hill for the Pa Ka’oao Trail, and then you will get a look into the crater.
A few of us were actually suffering from altitude sickness, which was surprising. We live at the elevation of 4500 feet, and are in the mountains constantly in Utah. We did not expect to have anyone get sick, but maybe it was the sudden change from 0 to 10,000 feet that happens on Maui. Make sure to drink a lot of water so you stay hydrated, and rest if you start to feel sick while at the summit of Haleakala. And if your symptoms don’t improve, it is best to head quickly to lower evaluations.
So two of us head out onto the Sliding Sands Trail to check it out. It was an easy walk and soon we were at the first overlook. We liked that we could get a little better look at the cones inside the crater, and thought about walking further to get closer to them. But the trail does drop quickly on this hike, and we would have to climb back up, so we decided not to continue past the overlook. Especially since we had some sick people to get back to.
One thing to watch for on this trail are the Silversword plants. This plant is silvery and only grows on Haleakala, Mauna Kea, and Mauna Loa. They live to be about 90 years old, and they only bloom once! We didn’t see any in bloom, but we did see some on the Sliding Sands Trail.
We like to experience as many trails as we can in the national parks, and we are glad we walked a part of the Keonehe’ehe’e, or Sliding Sands, Trail in Maui. It was short and easy. For other hikes that we recommend in Haleakala National Park, check out our Family Friendly Haleakala Hikes post.
