So, now we're on day #6 of our Hawaiian adventure, and we spent a lot of time at the Volcanoes National Park...
To really experience Volcanoes National Park, you need to spend at least a couple of days exploring and hiking, although you can hit the popular spots and get your photo's all in one day. As I've mentioned in previous posts before, it's a good idea to make sure to bring food and water, and pack for all weather conditions, wear hiking shoes, and long pants (falling on volcanic rock is like falling on broken glass). The drive to the park from Kona was long but scenic... totally cool to see the rainforest scenery change into a barren lava rock field. Try to get to the park early and before the crowds and tour buses - parking space at some of the stops becomes sparse later in the day. The route was pretty straight forward: take CR11 south until you see the sign for the park and visitor centre (based on the land, it's pretty obvious when you're close). Along the way you'll see the elevation markings and whether or not you are in a tsunami evacuation area.
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| On the drive, the scenery changes... |
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| and changes... |
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| ...and becomes quite different. Here are old lava flows as we get into the park. |
Entering the park is $10 per vehicle and allows you access for 7 days. Once we got in, we stopped at the visitor centre which wasn't very crowded. We checked out current conditions, picked up some brochures, and had some snacks. There are a lot of trails (most interconnect) which would allow you to walk the entire park (taking days - you could also camp there), but we drove to specific points and hiked a little bit to take in everything we wanted to within our time contraints. Don't forget Pele's curse - whether true or not, we didn't take any rocks, pumice, or sand as souvenirs since it is also illegal. The story goes that whoever takes rocks or sand from the Hawaiian Islands will have bad luck and apparently, there are many stories of people having horrible experiences and mailing back rocks and sand to relieve themselves of Pele's curse. The story can't be traced back farther than the 20th century, so another theory is that a park ranger invented it to deter tourists from stealing them.
We drove to the end of the permitted section of Crater Rim Drive - there are two routes in the park: 'crater rim drive' and 'the chain of crater drive'. At the time we visited, we could only go as far as the Jagger Museum on Crater Rim Road, since past there and south was closed indefinitely, due to the current activity and sulfur dioxide gases blowing into the area. The Crater Rim Drive encircles the Kilauea Caldera (a caldera is a bowl which forms when land surrounding a volcano collapses after an eruption). It is possible to hike into the Kilauea Caldera, but it wasn't recommended on the day we visited due to the sulfuric gas levels - the Crater Rim Trail was also closed indefinitely past the Jagger Museum.
At the Jagger museum is probably the best place to get a view of Kilauea smoking. The rangers set out a telescope/sight so you can take a closer look from afar and if you get there at the right time they also provide a short talk. There are tons of ranger guided talks, sessions, and walks, just check out the park's website for details. Many people plan to come here when it is dark so that they can see the glow of Kilauea.
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| view from the Jaggar Museum |
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| Kilauea Caldera Crater |
It is worth it to go inside the Jagger Museum as there are samples of volcanic rock which you can touch, as well as some neat videos and information boards. What we thought was the coolest thing to see and touch was Pele's Hair and Pelee's Tears which looked and felt like glass. They are formed when the volcano spews this mostly glass material.
Next we drove back towards the visitor centre and stopped at the steam vents. There was a bit of construction work going on to set up fencing around a steam vent right beside the parking lot. From this parking lot there's a short trail which takes you to a ledge, which has the steam vents below. At the ledge you are also provided with another vantage point to view Kilauea (but a bit farther away).
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| the steam vents |
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| steam vents in the distance |
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| steam vent up close |
Cross the road from there and you're at the trail leading to the Sulfur Banks. Nigel had to explore this trail independently due to the high sulfur gas concentrations (this trail isn't recommended for those with respiratory problems, children, or pregnant women). The gases have deposited crystallized sulfur which looked like droplets or dew on all the vegetation nearby, and the rock at these vents has turned a chemical yellow-green. The trail allowed him to get really close and he didn't spend much time there since sulfur fumes are actually a health hazard. He described it as being very hot and smelling like recently lit matches.
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| sulphur crystals are visible on plants |
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| sulphur banks |
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| sulphur crystals |
We drove to our next stop, the Thurston Lava Tube which gets you into very dense rainforest. Lava tubes are conduits formed by historical subsurface lava flows. There is a current lava flow which flows through many tubes to the ocean. This trail is a short loop which first descends through the fern forest, goes through the tube, and then climbs back up to the road. The lava tube is well lit and pretty big so there shouldn't be any claustrophobia issues.
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| inside the Lava tube |
There are some low ceiling areas and it is quite damp with puddles, of which some can't be avoided due to their size. Evan concluded this was a tunnel and enjoyed going through it and splashing in the puddles. As we finished the trail it started to rain (almost like a heavy mist, but it wasn't windy) and as we got to the car we noticed many tour buses starting to pull up to this major stop on the bus tours - we just missed the crowd.
We drove to our next hike Devastation Trail which we walked in the mist/rain - we did pack rain ponchos which came in handy for this. We also had to wear our hoodies since it was also a bit chilly (64 deg F), so there was a bit of prep before we could start.
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| Devastation Trail with cinder cone in the background |
Devastation trail takes you around the Pu'u Pua'i Cinder Cone which sites at the rim of the Kilauea Iki Crater. This is a paved trail which takes you through the a forested area which has been impacted by a 1959 eruption (lava fountain) - you may also be able to see Pele's Tears and Pele's Hair if you look for it. There are points which allow you to view directly into the crater which is still steaming from the last eruption and is beside the summit caldera of Kilauea (encircled by the Crater Rim Drive). We would hike down into the crater on the next day.
Once you finish the trail you can follow a dirt trail through to Byron's Ledge which let's you walk through some desolate landscape dotted with vegetation. You'll notice some trees growing out of caved in holes and eventually come to a very steep descent. Nigel and Evan continued further to check out if the trail was getting close to entering the crater. There was a bit more hiking to get there, but it was to steep with loose dirt to take the baby down on (not to mention it was also raining a bit more now). Based on the map we would be able to try a trail near the Thurston Lava Tube to get down, but we were going to wait until tomorrow and earlier in the day before there's a chance of rain.
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| Looking into Kilauea Iki |
What we noticed was that it was consistently hot and sunny in the morning and in the afternoon it became very cloudy with periodic rain - appeared to be the norm here.
With a little bit of time left we decided we would drive a little further down the chain of craters road and stop by a few areas before heading home. We stopped and explored at the Mau Loa o Mauna Ulu Lava flows of 1969 and then turned around for our drive back to the hotel in the dark.
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| lava flows |
The drive back wasn't bad, only we were really tired and again we got caught in the darkness which was a little more difficult to drive in. On the bright side, we knew we didn't have to make any turns until we got to the street where our hotel was.
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