Three viewpoints along the road overlook the great crater: Leleiwi, at the 9,000-foot switchback; Kalahaku, two miles below the summit: and the Park Observatory, near the top. The roadway extends along the crest one mile southwestward to a scenic point beyond the park boundary and a communication station of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Just above the park entrance, Silversword Inn, a National Park concession, offers meals, rooms, souvenirs, horseback riding and guided horseback trips into the crater. Across from the inn, a paved spur road leads a half mile to Hosmer Grove Campground and Picnic Area.
Haleakala Crater is a favorite with those who like the back-country; its inspiring scenery and restful solitude are great reward for time and effort. The National Park Service maintains three cabins on the crater floor and 30 miles of well-marked trails for hikers and horseback parties.
A quarter mile above the park entrance, opposite the driveway to the inn, a paved lane, one-half mile long, leads to the Hosmer Grove Campground and Picnic Area. It has a shelter for rainy weather that contains two tables and two charcoal burners. Four additional tables with adjacent charcoal burners are in an open site below the road. Running water, parking space for eight cars, and sites for pitching tents are provided. Charcoal may be purchased at the inn. A self-guiding nature trail leads through the grove.
[Illustration: HOSMER GROVE CAMPGROUND AND PICNIC AREA]
The grove was named for the first Territorial forester, Dr. Ralph S. Hosmer, who experimented with planting temperate trees at high altitudes on Haleakala and Mauna Kea. Trees, planted here in 1910, include the deodar, _Cedrus deodara_ from the Himalayas; the tsugi, _Cryptomeria japonica_ from Japan; eucalypti from Australia; and from the mainland a cypress, _Cupressus arizonica_; a juniper, _Juniperus virginiana_; Douglas fir, _Pseudotsuga taxifolia_; incense cedar, _Libocedrus decurrens_; two spruces, _Picea canadensis_, _P. excelsa_; and seven pines: lodgepole, _Pinus contorta_, Coulter or big-cone, _P. coulteri_, Jeffrey, _P. jeffreyi_, longleaf, _P. palustris_, ponderosa or western yellow, _P. ponderosa_, white, _P. strobus_, and Scotch, _P. sylvestris_. Many of these have survived and have borne fruits. The huge keeled cones of Coulter pines are cherished as ornaments in some homes.