On our way back down from the summit of Haleakala, we decided to stop just prior to exiting the national park and walk the short but remarkable Hosmer Grove nature trail. There is a campground here as well as the park headquarters, but the main attraction is a unique alien forest, meaning that the plantings are not native to Maui – a half-mile trail meanders through the grove, and includes an upper loop that leaves the forest to wander through native scrub that provides contrast to the tall trees. Part of the parking lot was under construction, so it was a little confusing finding the start of the trail – some campers gave us directions that involved walking directly through people’s campsites in order to avoid the roped-off construction area, so we quickly passed through the full campground to minimize bothering anybody. Once on the trail, we passed specimen after specimen, each with its own informative identification sign. The path wound around east and south, eventually reaching a point where it bent back west along the edge of the grove – we chose to continue on up the hillside on the shrubbery loop, also provided in places with similar identification markers. This loop, too, eventually made its way back north into the grove, where we once again joined the main loop. We soon found ourselves reentering the parking area, this time at a previously unseen entrance on the other side of the construction zone that allowed us to bypass walking through anyone’s campsite. This was a really interesting little hike – the trail was short and easy, but the signage was very informative and the specimens lovely. This was a very enjoyable way to finish up our Haleakala visit, and we hungrily continued our drive down the mountain to the Kula Sandalwoods Inn for breakfast (our second time, and highly recommended).