Hawaii Day 8 – Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

I let the light of the sunrise wake me up this morning. As soon as I peeked my sleepy eyes open and saw the view, I immediately popped up to put the coffee on (new bag of Royal Kona Company from Walmart – the actual farm is down the road in Kona) and sat around to watch the sunrise. We’re facing north, but you get the edges of both the sunset and sunrise from the view when it’s cloudy like this. One of life’s real treasures, especially with kids, is a quiet morning coffee from a balcony with a view.

We didn’t have a super tight morning schedule today, but didn’t want to dawdle too much as we have a fairly action packed day planned. Noelle made up a picnic lunch of ham sandwiches and we dressed in hybrid hiking / bathing suits since we were going to do Hawaii Volcanoes National Park plus a bonus stop at a black sand beach if we had time. We threw the sandwiches and snacks in a backpack cooler and hit the road.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is southwest of Hilo down HI-11 about 45 minutes away.

The landscape was nice, but definitely very different – more barren with hardier looking brushes that looked like they were waiting to be burned up by lava so they could start regrowing again.

On arrival in the national park, we headed to the visitor center near the entrance to get our bearings.

The main attraction that most people come for is Kaluapele, the Hawaiian name for the Kīlauea Caldera, a big crater at the top of Kīlauea volcano where most of the time you can see red lava spewing around from several viewing areas. Unfortunately, the volcano is not actively erupting, so no red lava – the ranger said that it is currently exhibiting signs of heightened unrest and could start erupting again at any time. I wonder if Kīlauea has any blood relations to Noelle…

We left the visitor station and drove west along the west crater rim road. First stop – Steam vents! The steam vents are where water is seeping into the ground where it gets super heated by the lava and comes back up as steam through ground vents. They have little protected areas where you can go right up next to it and put your hands in it. It is HOT – like REALLY hot. If the wind blows it your direction, it actually can burn a bit and you’d have to run for cover. Noelle is extremely cold-natured, so this was her dream and she basked in the warmth like it was a sauna.

We left the vents and drove up a little further to a different spot where you could walk out and see the crater itself. It was a massive hole in the ground with smoke/steam coming up in several areas and blackened char landscape everywhere. I wondered if I could do one of those barefoot lavarock walks where you walk really fast over the hot coals to show how awesome you are. Maybe next time. We gaped in wonder for a few minutes, but saw a sheet of rain coming in so we high-tailed it back to the car. What happens when it rains on a volcano? I guess we’re about to find out.

We drove a little further up the rim trail road to make it to the top of the mountain. It was raining by the time we got up there, walked out to look, and we found out what happens when it rains. All of that rain turns into steam and a hazy cloud that obscures the view! It was so thick you really couldn’t see much of anything. There were a few buildings up there there probably had some cool info about the volcano, but it was all closed due to damage caused by the volcano recently. Someone had left some kind of leaf wrapped sacrifice to the volcano gods – maybe they were praying for red lava and good views. Must have been the wrong thing to sacrifice – try an animal next time. The girls went back to the car. I stayed a little longer and got a little glimpse of a view before giving up and heading back to the car.

We turned around and drove back down the mountain and got a very lucky parking spot at the limited parking area to see the Thurston Lava Tube. A lava tube is a fancy word for a cave that is the leftovers from a channel of lava after someone turns off the lava spigot and it drains out. To get to it, you take a quick trail / steps down through a humid rainforest and enter the tube. The tube itself was lit, but still pretty dark and wet from water seeping through the walls. You walk through for a few minutes then it exits through a hole on the other side.

Right next to the lava tube parking lot was the entrance to the Kīlauea Iki Trail. We weren’t sure exactly what it was, but heard it was something you should do while you’re there. It was only a 1.2 mile to the floor – we went to check it out. The first part is a straight downhill hike, with switchbacks every 100 feet. The trail was a little muddy, but was in good shape and easy to navigate. You’re hiking through more of the rainforest-like environment. You’d think there would be mosquitoes, but there didn’t seem to be any or I would have been covered.

Getting to the bottom was the real treat – you’re on the floor in the middle of the crater of the volcano. We had worked up an appetite and walked over to a pile of volcanic rocks to pull out our lunch and have a nice picnic with an incredible view of the crater and the green valley walls that towered up around it.

After lunch, we decided to continue the hike forward. We didn’t know exactly where we were going and how long it would be, but it looked too good to not do. The trail continues through the middle of the crater. Someone created piles of rocks that were the trail markers that you’re supposed to stay between. The hike felt like you were on another planet. Everything about it felt alien. I haven’t been to mars, but I imagine it’s something like this. The ground is shattered everywhere, very few bushes and it felt a little un-nerving like lava could just start spewing out of the ground at any moment. We hiked all the way through to the other side.

Girls placed their rocks on the top like Moana – raising the stack a little higher.

After about 30 minutes of hiking, we made it to the other side of the crater and a set of steep stairs lead us back up the other side of the mountain where trees an greenery had returned. We started to get a little winded going back up the stairs, but still stopped at every lookout for celebratory pictures of the volcano trail that we had conquered.

Once you made it to the top of the rim, you have to continue hiking another 2 miles along the rim back to where the parking lot was. The girls all stopped there to use the rest room, which was just a hole in the ground where the bad stuff goes with poor air circulation. I’ll wait for the next one with plumbing.

Back at our car, we had one more important thing to see the Holei Sea Arch. To get to the sea arch, you have to drive the Chain of Craters Road. It’s a long, windy 20 mile road down the side of the volcano where you pass a series of craters and previous lava eruptions that covered the area from the past. It looked like every few years in the 70’s that lava would erupt and cover the whole area again. I’d guess it would take monthsto dig it out and repair the road each time. Hopefully it doesn’t erupt once we’re on the wrong side of it.

We made a few stops for pictures at the overlooks and Nene crossings as the landscape switched from more of a flat land of devastation to another sweeping view of the lava trailing down into the ocean.

At the bottom, you park and do a quick walk to an area where you see the Holei Sea Arch. It’s like you’re witnessing an on-going battle between the volcano making land and the ocean trying to knock it down and take it back. The arch is a phase of that . Someday, it will be eroded away completely and collapse back into the sea.

At this point, we were all getting very thirsty and had run out of the water we had in our bottles. We started the long drive back up hill to get back to the visitor center. Noelle and kids took a quick nap. At the visitor center, I filled our bottles with filtered rainwater and left the park. We had made pretty good time through the park, so we decided to make the 45 minute drive to see Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach.

I thought Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach was very cool – a beach made of volcanic stone that eroded over centuries to make a fine black sand. It was not as fine as you’d find at panama city, but ok to sit on. The water was too rough to get in, so we sat there for a bit and just relaxed on a beach blanket.

One cool bonus was there was actually a turtle on the beach! There was a sectioned off part of the beach just for sea turtles with a sign to stay out and leave the turtles alone. I have no idea how the turtle knew to beach itself in just that one section, but it was there. At first I thought it was a fake or dead turtle, but on the way out I saw it open its eyes and lift its head. Poor guy was just tuckered out and taking a nap. I know how you feel.

There was a guy there selling fresh coconut to the tourists. We got a couple good ones and the guy took a machete to open them up for us. The girls didn’t really care much for the coconut milk inside, but was pretty cool and refreshing.

We were all tired from the long day of hiking and the beach wasn’t exactly comfortably, so we headed out after a short stay. We drove back the way we came up, and back down the mountain.

It has been very challenging to select dinner places since the girls like very simple foods, and Noelle and I like to eat some of the fancier local fare. To make everyone happy, we went to two different places. We went to Kozmic Cones for the girls, kind of a dairy queen / chinese restaurant hybrid to get hamburgers and ice cream. Noelle and I got Teryaki steak and a local plate of different meats and a slide of coconut cream pie for dessert from Pineapples Island Fresh Cuisine.

Today was actually our 15th wedding anniversary. Noelle and I told the kids they needed to lock themselves away in their room and give us some alone time ot have a romantic anniversary dinner alone on lanai. The food was the best we’ve had in Hawaii and we enjoyed the quiet view with only 1-2 interruptions from kids that don’t follow instructions. Noelle truly is my better half and being able to share days like today with her and every day for the last 15 years makes me truly the luckiest man alive. I’m sure the rest of you think your spouses are good, but trust me – Noelle is actually #1. If you know her at all, you probably agree. Happy Anniversary!