Big Island, Day 5: VOLCANOS!

Believe it or not, there was a day 5--I was apparently running low on blogging steam!

We got up early and drove into Hawaii Volcanos National Park--home to the Kilauea Volcano, the most active volcano in the world. The park was only about 4 miles from our "charming" accomodations. Our first reaction when we arrived was irritation, realizing how close we were to the Jagger Museum, where we potentially could have seen a small amount of lava in the evening hours the night before. After talking with people from the visitor's center on day 4, they sounded pessimistic--like they really doubted we'd see much, and it probably wasn't worth the drive. Well, when it only took 10 minutes to get there, it was probably worth the drive to at least check it out! Oh well.

First stop: Sulpher Banks.
Signs and pamphlets told us not to bring Zachary back on this trail, so we took turns checking it out. It wasn't quite as smelly as we expected, and almost a little eerie in the morning hours. The area reminded us of Yellowstone.

Here is a look at the Halema'uma'u Crater, where the Hawaiian volcano goddess Madame Pele is said to reside.

Steam vents: where rain has creeped into the ground, heated by Kilauea, and then released as steam.

A view of the Halema'uma'u Crater from the Jagger Museum. IF there was any lava surface flow the night before, this would have been our only place to see it (everything else was dry that day). Even though we didn't see rivers of red lava, it was still really exciting to see all the steam.

Mark Twain visited this crater in the late 1800s, when it was a lake of boiling lava. He said it was like gazing into the fiery pits of hell.It started to rain hard, so we delayed our crater hike a bit and visited the Thurston Lava Tube. It was cleaned up and tidy, with lights and everything. We would prefer the original version, but with Zachary, it was just fine. He wasn't near as nervous as the day before, but still wanted to be carried.

The rain cleared, and we enjoyed the day's highlight: the Kilauea Iki trail. This 4 mile hike takes you staight over the crater floor, right next to the Pu'u Pua'i vent, and through the lush rain forest surroundings that were not attacked by the November 14, 1959 eruption.

We picked up a hiking pamphlet at the visitor's center, and enjoyed descriptions and pictures of the eruption. The day of the eruption, a "curtain" of lava 1,900 feet tall emerged, shooting 5 times higher than the vent, and becoming the highest eruption ever in Hawaii.
This is the Pu'u Pua'i vent--the main vent (the red rock to the left of Brady). After lava gushed out, it eventually drained back into this vent. Enough lava came out during the eruption to bury a football field 15 feet in lava.

On the crater floor: the rocks were so light and airy, and it was wild to walk inside such a new crater, crunching along. This was absolutely the best part of the park for us.

Hiking back up into the rain forest.

A view of the trail:

Next up: Devastation Trail, a short walk through the forest area that was taken out by Kilauea Iki eruption. Zac wanted to run almost the entire way.

Barren!

I love this shot. There is a picture of it in the guidebook, but this one is better. Some ground cover finally recovering from the destruction.

We took the 19 mile Chain of Craters road. Appropriately named for all the craters you see along the way (including one called "Devil's Throat" that makes you gasp out loud), this road has changed course more than once after being taken out by the volcano--particularly after the 1969-1974 eruption of Mauna Ulu (also part of Kilaeua). In 1997, a couple campers woke up to gushing lava right next to their campsite. This place is active, just not always visibly so to the one-day vacationer.

What am I looking at?

Ah, there it is. You could taste the water. The famous Holei Sea Arch at the end of the road. The scenary was definitely worth the drive.

The Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs, which Brady checked out while I stayed in the car with our sleepy head (I saw petroglyphs back in Kohala on my runs).

Our final adventure of the day was really more of a misadventure. We realized we had 2 extra hours to burn, so we took a trail that was supposed to lead us to the Mauna Ulu Crater. It was in the Adventures section, so we knew it wouldn't be easy, but we didn't expect it to be impossible to find! It's the first time where we haven't been able to complete a hike because we couldn't find it. We've been off-trail many times and eventually reached our destination, but we didn't have time to get lost. We spent a hard-working two hours trying to find it, and finally just ended up back at the car so we didn't miss our flight. It was neat to hike all over the uneven lava surfaces, but pretty unsatisfying without the view we expected.

We're glad we took a day to get familiar with the volcano and the park, and maybe another time we'll see surface flows. The end of the trip was uneventful, unless you count when we lost our camera and cell phone in the course of one hour (now both recovered!).

Big Island Day 3-4: Water Sports, Water Slides, and Waterfalls

The vog started to clear in Kona on Day 3, making everything brighter and sunnier. This is the Kona Temple, where Steve Young got married. It is our temple right now, while Laie is renovated.We visited Kahalu'u Beach park, which reputedly has excellent snorkeling. It was crowded, but again with excellent visibility. Big Island is not known for it's beaches, but the water is the clearest in the state.

Here is Zac getting ready to "swim like a fishie."

He provides entertainment to the tan/burn crowd on the beach by getting as sandy as possible.

While I thought the snorkeling was nice, all I really wanted to do was check out the break to the right.

Brady was nice enough to give up some of his only "resort time" to let me surf for an hour. He was husband-of-the-year, staying in the car with sleeping Zachary while I got the surf itch of my system. It was an exceptional hour for me! The break was even, and best of all, the rides stretched on for ages. I don't know if I've ever had rides that long and so many of them! There were at least 30 of us out there, but the break went so far across the beach that we all had space. (Brady also discovered just how far our zoom lens can stretch--all these are taken from the road, forever away from the break.)

Brady had a Manta Ray Night Dive (he will post on that), and Zachary and I had hours to ourselves at the resort. He died over the baby slides and pools, although walking under this waterfall terrified him. Hands-down the best part of the resort for Zac was watching the "fishies" again. It was obvious that he recognized they were the same type of fish we had seen in the bay, and he watched them for an hour. They did tricks with the trainer, jumping, clapping, and spinning around in the pools.

That night, we gave into the resort's antics. They leave a dolphin on the pillow, complimentary as long as you're good with another charge on your card. ;) How could we resist, though? Zac was in love with it, and sleeps with it daily ever since.Our days were also highlighted with beautiful coastal runs in the morning. The resort took the abundant volcanic rock found everywhere, crushed it up, and created a crunchy coastal path. We both took turns running it in the early am, and also checked out the King's Trail, which leads to hundreds of ancient petroglyphs.

We left the Hilton, and took the north-bound route to Volcano National Park. We think that was a good choice--it was gorgeous. Up to this point, our only comment about Big Island's appearance was "U-G-LY!" No green, all volcanic rock, and not much in terms of beaches (although with terrific water sports). The north part of the island changed our minds, and there were towns where we would love to live.

Our first stop along the way: a 20 minute walk through bamboo forests to Akaka Falls, a 420' waterfall.

I like this "virgin" bamboo--it's not marked up with initials and graffiti like Kauai's bamboo.

Looking from the parking lot:

Waterfall #2: Rainbow Falls. Below these falls, Kamehameha buried the bones of his father.

Waterfall #3: Wai'ale Falls. We hiked up beyond these falls to pools. Despite the difficult nature of the trail, Zachary insisted on hiking himself. (This was a good thing, because there were parts we could not have done with him in the pack.) Of course, we had a hand on him at all times, but his agility and endurance was so impressive, we could have burst with pride.

Once we reached the rocks and water, we made him get back in the pack. He was not happy about that. We couldn't let him swim, though, because the current was strong.

Final waterfall: Pe'epe'e Falls. People often leave offering to the goddess Pe'e here. This was as close as we could get with Zachary on our backs--reaching it would have required some swimming.

Final little trek of the day: Kaumana Cave. It was created by the Mauna Loa lava flow in 1881. We walked in a little ways, but Zac got nervous about the darkness. Spelunking is one adventure we would do without a child if we come back. The cave is lush and grown-in already, even though it is so young.

Late nap, followed by a trip to IHop, made Zac's day.

On the way to Volcano Village that night, I was trying to explain to Brady what I meant by "charming" in reference to places and things. I told him that the only thing that made the Hilton charming was the boat ride to and from the room. Otherwise, it was more like "modern and glamorous" (I don't mind either, but it just isn't the same thing as charming!).

Well, the place we stayed in Volcano Village was definitely a change from the resort. It had bunk beds, a tiny shower/bath, signs posted everywhere reminding you to turn off the water because "it all comes from roof collections," and how to keep the condensation in the house to a minimum. We checked in at the owner's residence.

Charming.

We liked charming for one night.