We’d originally planned on touring Volcanos National Park on our first full day on the Big Island, but when Mount Kilauea stopped erupting days before we arrived, we bumped the park to our second full day so we’d have time to recover from traveling and the time change. The park was about 2.5 hours drive away from our condo along very windy roads, so it was definitely smart to do it after we’d had time to rest and regroup. We left early in the morning and headed south along the coast. The ride took us through several small seaside towns and often had huge views of the sloping coastline and the open ocean beyond. It was stunning!
One quick stop that we made was spending time on Black Sand Beach. We saw the signs and knew we had to veer off and check it out. It was so gorgeous! Seeing the palm trees jutting out of the black sand was amazing — like nothing I’d seen before. The shoreline was jagged with lava rocks and various tide pools. We’d heard that there were sometimes sea turtles here but we didn’t see any.
Once we made our way to the National Park, I decided to go ahead and get the America the Beautiful Pass so we’d have free entry to all National Parks for the calendar year. Since we plan on traveling out west to see Chris and Karen later and Kaia and I have our California trip booked, it seemed like a good idea! As luck would have it, we’d actually end up using it so much in Hawaii that it would already pay for itself!
Our first stop was driving Chain of Craters Road. The goal was to work our way all the way through the park and to coast before meeting up for a Ranger hike in the early afternoon. We stopped along the way to see a lava tube. When a volcano is erupting, the lava flows underground, creating these caves or tunnels. When the lava stops flowing, these tubes are all that remains. The parking lot for this trail was full so we ended up having to drive past it, do a u-turn, and then come all the way back to another lot and hike to the trail. It ended up being a really pretty walk though, so we can’t complain! The tube itself was really pretty and well-lit so that we could see how far it went into the distance.
After the lava tube hike, we followed the road further towards the coast. Along the way we passed several scenic stopping points, often overlooking different volcanic craters. The drive itself looked like we were on another planet. I wish we had taken more photos of the landscape because it was really cool! Once we made it all the way to to coast we parked and walked down a paved road to get to the Hōlei Sea Arch overlook. The coast consists of jagged lava cliffs that fall right into the ocean. As new lava cools and turns to rock, it begins to erode. Ever so slowly, the pounding waves break apart and wear away the rock, sculpting sea caves into the cliff. As the waves pound into these new sea caves, the water hits the back wall of the cave and refracts. The force of the water bouncing off the back of then begins to erode the cave’s headland, over time, forming a sea arch.
The arch was further away than we expected, but still super cool to see! The weather had turned kind of windy and rainy, making photos hard to get!
After the Sea Arch hike we worked our way back up Chain of Craters Road to the petroglyphs area. We planned on joining the Ranger-led hike here so that we could learn more about the history and artwork. There were about 12 people in our group and our Park Ranger was a cute elderly gentleman who said he had been working at Volcanoes National Park for decades. A few steps into our hike he actually tripped and fell, hitting his head on the rocks and scraping his knee. He brushed if off but I honestly sort of felt worried for him for the rest of the trip.
The archaeological site of Puʻuloa contains over 23,000 petroglyph images; motifs containing cupules or holes, motifs of circles, other geometric as well as cryptic designs. The walk was slow going but we learned a lot about the history of native Hawaiians, the surrounding nature, and the volcanos. We definitely learned more than we would have had we done this hike on our own, but sometimes the pace was frustrating. One of the most interesting things we learned was the practice of native families to drill holes into this sacred area and place umbilical cord “matter” into the holes and a stone is placed over it. In the morning if the cord has disappeared, this insures long life for the child.
After about an hour of walking and listening, we bailed on the rest of the hike and scooted our way back to the car. As informative as it was, it was sooooo slow-going and we started to get a little anxious about our timing and daylight hours. We worked our way back to the Visitors Center where we shopped a little and used the facilities. It was here that we overheard the Park Ranger telling people where the closest viewing point was to see the erupting volcano — if it had been erupting. He said there was still a chance that if we stayed past sunset that we could see the faint glow of hot lava. We agreed to do dinner there in the park and wait because why not!?
Then we headed over to the steam vents at Wahinekapu (Steaming Bluff), where you can feel hot water vapor as it billows from the ground in steam vents. This phenomenon is created as ground water seeps down to rocks heated by magma deep underground. The rocks are so hot that it vaporizes the water, returning it to the surface as steam. We walked along a gravel path dotted with different steam vents where we could lean over and feel the hot steam blowing past us. The weather was sort of misty again and we caught an amazing rainbow there too! The steam vent path overlooks the huge crater where the volcano had been erupting. We couldn’t really see anything but some steam in the distance, but there was a really beautiful flower “offering” to the volcano. I thought that was pretty amazing!
After the steam vent area we returned to the Visitors Center and a really thick fog rolled in. We went across the street to the hotel and restaurant for a bit to see if it would pass, but the cloud cover and fog was still just as thick over a half hour later. We decided to just head home instead of eating there and waiting for sunset. On our way home we decided to do a full loop and travel through Hilo so that we had a better chance of finding a good restaurant. Mark helped us by doing some research from home and we zeroed in on a local place called Pineapples. It was a super cute open-air restaurant with live music, local food, and huge portions. After dinner we drove the rest of the way home in the dark and faced some of the thickest fog I’ve ever ever had to drive through. We were truly in the middle of nowhere and the road was unknown, so we just took it super slow. Both of us had to pee so bad…. but we made it back around 10pm and crashed into our beds.
