On the day before leaving Hawaii, we decided to visit the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I had visited this park more than a decade before, and I wasn't very impressed. However, Mark had never been. Besides, we needed to get our money's worth out of our annual U.S. National Parks pass, so off we went.
On our way to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we stopped off at the Punalu'u Beach, a famous black sand beach where we saw as many as 11 turtles resting and feeding.
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Turtle feeding at Punalu'u Beach
Big Island, HI |
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Sleeping Turtle, Punalu'u Beach
Big Island, HI |
At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we paid a visit to the visitor center and the Jagger museum before we decided to hike down into the Kilauea Iki Crater. This is a collapsed lava lake formed in 1959 (excuse my inaccurate geological terminology). Despite the view of the desolate crater from the overlook (see below), this is a verdant trail that descends through a lush rain-forest.
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The Kilauea Iki hiking trail descends into this lava lake
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI |
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Rainforest at Kilauea Iki Trail
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI |
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Hiking along the rainforest-Kilauea Iki Trail
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI |
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Flowers in the rainforest-Kilauea Iki
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI |
I enjoyed this hike tremendously: the rainforest made a nice contrast with the moonscape that we met at the bottom of the crater. The still steaming crater bottom was wild. I felt like we were un-supervised kids as we risked our necks climbing over and into still bubbling steam vents.
Despite our unlimited access at the crater bottom, I probably won't be paying another visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park any time soon. I am just not that interested in volcanoes or lava, despite the awesome film shown at the Visitor's center.
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Kilauea Iki Trail
Big Island, HI
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Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaiian Volcanic National Park, HI |
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After the park, we decided not to linger and returned to Kona. For dinner we ate spam musubi and fast food Hawaiian food at L&L Barbecue.
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Yum, spam musubi
Big Island, HI |
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