Hawaii Volcanoes

From Wikipedia – This park on the Big Island protects the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes, two of the world’s most active geological features. Diverse ecosystems range from tropical forests at sea level to barren lava beds at more than 13,000 feet.

• Established: 08/01/1916
• Annual Visitors: 1,116,891
• Size: 325,605 acres

G: Day 0 – Jan 26, 2020

We flew from Maui to Hilo this morning. The flight is less than 100 miles, so nice and quick. It was a beautiful sunny morning, with great views of the mountains of the Big Island. We picked up our luggage and rental car and headed out to Akaka Falls State Park, about 30 minutes up the coast from Hilo. There was a cruise ship docked in the Hilo harbor, so we were worried about big crowds. When we arrived at the park it was busy, but not too bad. A couple vans showed up as we started so we did our best to stay ahead of the people on the half mile loop to see the 442 foot high Akaka Falls and the not quite as dramatic Kahuna Falls. The walk takes you through the jungle with some amazing trees. The loop trail certainly got busier as we went along. Turns out two big busses had showed up as well as several more vans. We still really enjoyed the short walk and the beautiful views. On the way back down the hill we stopped in the village of Honomu and enjoyed the classic “old time” shops. Elizabeth got a coffee and I got an ice cream. There was a shop that had an amazing bottle collection of all shapes, sizes and colors.

It was then time to head back to Hilo. Our room was not ready so we walked next door to a larger hotel that had a poolside bar. We were too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so we ate the happy hour bar appetizers, which were very good. We walked back to our hotel and checked in. Our room was on the end, so we had two walls of windows overlooking Hilo Bay. The waters of the bay were nice and calm, but we could see the waves from the open ocean bcrashing over the manmade breakwater. Our room was recently remodeled, but there was no heat or air conditioning in the room, just a couple of fans. We slept with the windows open that night.

Right next door is a golf course and the beautiful Liliʻuokalani Park and Gardens with lots of walking paths through several koi ponds. The park is on a peninsula, so views of the bay and lots of locals out, fishing, walking and just enjoying the evening. There is a tree in the park that has the water level marked for the various tsunamis that have hit the area. The band marking the 1946 tsunami is 18 feet high. Hilo is by far the rainiest city in the US with over 250 days of rain a year and averaging 130” a year. We hit the weather perfectly as our day in Hilo was sunny and dry. Tomorrow morning we head 30 miles southwest to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

E: Day 1 – Jan 27, 2020

Found a coffee shop close to the hotel so got a cappuccino to start the day. The café/gift shop store clerk was very helpful re: places to visit by Volcanoes National Park and on Rt 11 back to Kona. A great bakery in Na’alehu called Punnalu’u Bake Shop and if we were stopping at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory, we should enjoy it there but go to the close-by Hilo Walmart to buy the nuts as they were less expensive. So we drove to Walmart and got a lot of varieties such as dark chocolate salted caramel Macadamia nuts etc. They also have a very extensive souvenir section FYI.

We stopped at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory in Hilo on our way to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Ironically the bags and boxes of nuts at the gift shop were a $1 cheaper than Walmart! Oh well, we did buy a few more nuts at the factory and all products were bought in Hawaii so all good.

We always take a few pics at the official sign near the entrance of each Park. Sometimes there are more than one sign and more than one visitor’s center. Gary and I had brought a couple ‘Travel Bugs’ from Geocaching in Everglades National Park in FL last month. There was a Geocache near the Volcanoes NP sign so we left the travel bugs at that geocache. If you are not familiar with Geocaching, enjoy reading about it online. We love that it brings us to places we might never had known about, all over the world.

At the visitor’s center we got our commemorative pin, postcards and ink stamp in our NP book. The video of the 2009 and 2018 eruptions of Kilauea Volcano was scary, sad and educational. We are staying at Volcano House, right in the Park, our room overlooks the Halema‘uma‘u Crater that further collapsed less than two years ago! May 2018. Prior to the 2009 and 2018 collapses, our view would have been of the bright orange lava flows of Kilauea. The volcano’s caldera is now over twice the depth and width as it was prior to 2018 and no above ground action at all right now. Although the park has closed areas, such as the Lava Tube and the Arch down by the sea, due to instability in the ground making those areas not safe, there are still great hikes and lookouts to enjoy.

We walked from the visitor’s center on the Crater Rim Trail to the Sulphur Banks, Steam Vents and Military Camp Trail enjoying the woods, tropical plants and large amounts of steam exiting cracks in the earth around us. There were lots of holes, erosion and sketchy spots on the sides of the trails. The rangers in the visitor’s center said there are people with NDD (Nature Deficit Disorder) and fall into, step back or drop off places all throughout the park due to nothing but personal irresponsibility as all the signs, rangers and common sense say to stay on the path at all times. i.e. take responsibility for your own actions at all times…especially in nature!

We then drove Chain of Craters Road to the ocean. According to the Park’s brochure, It’s a 38 mile long drive heading 3,700 feet down to the coast. Lava flows have covered 8 miles of road since 1986! With plenty of volcanic changing topography, lookout points and hikes it can take two hours. We drove down to the end of the road currently open (19 miles) and then, on the way back up, stopped to hike the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs Trail which was 1.4 miles round trip ending at the largest collection of petroglyphs in Hawaii. They are simple in nature in relation to the Native American etchings I have seen in AZ where we live but the walk out there is on barren, rugged volcanic lava flows from many years ago! And the view of the open ocean the entire time was fabulous.

On our continued drive back up the Chain of Craters Road it began to sprinkle under the sun. We experienced the best rainbow I have ever seen! It was so close, right in front of us in the car. We could see the entire arch and/or a double rainbow at times and the colors were bold and vibrant. I took lots of pictures but feel that what we saw and what the camera actually captured is not quite the same.

The air temperature at the ocean when we headed back up was 81 degrees and 60 degrees back at visitor’s center 40 minutes later. Which brings me to mentioning a few clothing/weather issues. Hawaii has many different weather conditions and types of geography. Elevation on the mountains/volcanoes brings winds and cold weather. Going from sea level to 10,000 feet on Maui for example can change the temperature 30 degrees or more. In the wet tropical areas of Hilo, for example, you most likely will need a rain jacket on and off each day. If you’re in the Kona area it’s more dessert like and very little rain but can get quite hot so sun protection is a must. You can drive to the top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. It is currently snow capped on its 13,800’ peak. Just pack with all weather in mind on all of Hawaii’s islands. It reminded us of AZ in the fact that we live in Phoenix where it can be 75 in the winter at 1,100 ft. elevation and Flagstaff at 7,000 ft, 2.5 hours north or at the Grand Canyon, 4 hours north of Phoenix can be 30 degrees and snowing on the same day!

Tomorrow brings more hiking and a fun day with many planned, and I am sure, spontaneous side trips driving the 2 or so hours of coastline to Kona.

E: Volcanoes NP Hawaii Jan 28, 2020

Volcano House Hotel, where we stayed our last night on our Pacific Hawaiian adventures, is lovely. We stayed in one of the only 33 rooms in the main hotel (they also have 10 cabins and 16 campsites scattered throughout the park. Some are quite remote). The hotel is one of only 20 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in the United States. There are over 800 worldwide. It is the only hotel option within Volcanoes NP and the only hotel in Hawaii on the edge of a volcano. It was first built at this 4,000 ft above sea level location as a one room building in 1846 and has gone through many transformations to today’s hotel of wifi and modern amenity equipped, but still historic looking lodging, complete with a fire in the large lobby fireplace. The many large windows in the restaurant and bar face the Kilauea Caldara providing an amazing view, the same view we had from our room! (a caldera is a large crater formed after a volcano eruption). The hotel has two large gift shops with a wonderful selection of books, shirts and local art. They have a lending library, board games and give out warm freshly baked cookies each night in the lobby. I would definitely stay there again vs. staying in Hilo and driving up the 4,000 ft each day you want to visit. For us, it was worth the $300+ for night. There is also lodging available in the nearby town of Volcano.

We hiked Kilauea Iki before breakfast, from 7-9 am. Kilauea is a Hawaiian word for spewing and Iki means little. It is a smaller volcano and only about a mile to Kilauea where the hotel is. We both loved the fact that we were walking across a lava flow from a 1959 eruption…the year we were both born! I guess my birth shook mountains as I was born in August and the scientists first starting noticing the earthquakes inside Kilauea August 1959 : ) It is said that there were cars lined up for 10 miles to see the volcano erupting at the Kilauea Iki Trailhead Lookout. The 400 ft vertical walk down into and out of Kilauea Iki is very dense tropical forest with many switchbacks and stairs with a dirt and stone footbed. (It is about a mile across the bottom of the caldera.) There are dangerous holes, periodically, on either side of the trail. There are signs warning you to stay on the path but personal responsibility is key. I’ve mentioned in previous journals that the rangers at the visitor’s centers called people who fall off Grand Canyon’s edge while taking selfies or those that walk off the path in a still steaming caldera and drop into lava pits must have NDD…Nature Deficit Disorder. If you are going to enjoy… and survive these beautiful, educational and historical trips to National Parks…take personal responsibility for your actions! Be aware of your surroundings!

On the Kilauea Iki hike we walked next to, and in view of, many steaming cracks in the lava beds 400 feet below the 3,800+ ft above sea level trailhead. One area of the ground was still warm beside the trail. Although it was cool enough to lay your hand down on to the white section, Gary could feel the warmth through his sneakers! For more info on this hike and additional history go to: https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/upload/Kilauea-Iki-Trail-Guide-2013.pdf .
We would do it again in a heartbeat!

There are lots of tourists at some of these parks but we learn to beat the crowds. We usually get to the visitor’s centers early in the day as they get busy late AM into early afternoon. We also enjoy hiking and exploring in the AM, especially at higher altitudes as clouds tend to roll in mid-day and you miss the views! Getting daily info on the trails and advice from the rangers has been invaluable information. Especially at active volcano areas where various roads and towns are no longer passable…even visible…as they are under lava, as recently as 2018!

An aside note: Gary and I learned we need more down time on these park adventures. When walking the Camino de Santiago and journaling each day, we found our afternoons and evenings relaxed. Usually having plenty of time alone, quiet, and able to write each daily entry. (view our Camino journals by clicking Camino de Santiago on the Home page of this blog site or go to http://www.trailjournals.com/parkinson2019 for our latest 550 mile walk across Spain!). But, the last two months of us chasing NP’s we feel we planned a bit too much in too little time. We are going to slow it down a bit giving us more time to explore and relax, be spontaneous and write these blog entries for our records and for others to read. The Hawaiian journals have taken way too long to post.

Our next adventure for the day began after we returned from our hike, had breakfast at the hotel and checked out of our ‘room with a view!” From the Hilo side of the Big Island, Hawaii we headed south to drive around to the Kona side. Our plan…there wasn’t one! We gave ourselves plenty of time and just wanted to stop when the mood suited us.

Our first daily adventure began when I noticed a sign for Ka’u Coffee Mill. “Let’s turn here!” I told Gary and we did. Gary doesn’t drink coffee but I sampled and bought some! We both found the trees, processing plant and history of the property very interesting. They do tours, but not that day : ( and they have a gift shop with fresh roasted beans in many flavors and items to grind, make and store your coffee. As a lifelong Golden Retriever mom, we loved running into a delivery guy with two goldens, Elwood & Jake (named after The Blues Brothers, 1980 movie). Goldens are not a common breed seen in Hawaii so these two guys were a joy for us and very glad to be rubbed and played with.

Our next exciting chance encounter was actually the result of a wrong turn! We were heading into Kona to find a place to hang out and eat before our flight. But before making a U turn, we finally saw the famous and endangered Nenes! The Hawaiian goose. Gary’s camera came in very handy capturing some photos of two different pairs on a golf course. The locals heading for their tee times probably thought our car on the side of the road and Gary standing on a stone fence was a bit odd….just to see the birds they probably see every time they play! But we had not seen a one, on either Maui or Hawaii, so we enjoyed watching them for a while. The Nenes were thought to be extinct in the 1950s, but efforts to bring them back are working.

A few miles down the road we stopped at a bakery in Na’alehu called Punnalu’u Bake Shop. We sampled their freshly made doughnuts, then had lunch. We continued on our drive around the southern portion of the island, stopping at viewpoints to see the various lava flows that have come through this area in the past 100 years.

We then, on a whim, remembering that Gary used to use our public library to work, decided to go to the Kailua Kona Public Library to sit quietly for an hour or more until we became hungry.

Gary’s Google search of restaurants this time came up with the ocean front Mi’s Seafood Restaurant which was walking distance from the library. What a wonderful way to relax, reflect, enjoy a beer and great food before catching our red-eye back home to Phoenix.

We both agreed that Volcanoes was our favorite park of the three Pacific Hawaiian National Parks. We would like to return to Hawaii and explore more of their historical sites, national monuments and state parks and hike more trails!

Until the next park!

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