Gary-Summer: February 5, 2022-Hawaii: Volcanoes National Park

Saturday, February 5, 2022

February 5, 2022-Hawaii: Volcanoes National Park

Title: February 5, 2022-Hawaii: Volcanoes National Park

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Volcano House and Nahuku-Thurston Parking area

Trail: Crater Rim Trail and the Nahuku-Thurston Lava Tube

Destination: Kileaua Isi Parking Lot, and the Thurston Loop

Description:

Today is not a snorkeling day. Kevin wants to do some housecleaning and wants us out of the way-my words, not his. So David will be chauffeuring us around. We decide that going to Hawaii Volcano NP is where we want to go.

We take the Saddle Route, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Both mountains have snow on them-not a lot. It is just a bit jarring seeing the snow in Hawaii. We drop down into Hilo. David stops at a Home Depot to pick up a part to fix something at the condo. Then it is over to Safeway to buy gas.

Halemaumau Crater

Crater Rim Trail

The next leg of the trip takes us along the eastern side of Mauna Loa, through a rain cloud. Fortunately, the rain does not extend very fair south. When we break through the clouds, it is sunshine above. The first place we get to within Volcano NP is the Visitor Center. The actual visitor center part has been shut down due to COVID. We wander through the gift shop, not buying anything. Outside there is an interpretive ranger answering questions. Apparently Halemaumau Crater is still have remnants of the eruption from a couple of years ago and is a pretty good draw, meaning it is crowded. We make a mental note that we want to stay away from that parking area.

Instead , we go over to the Volcano House. In back there is a pretty good view of the Halemaumau Crater. We cannot see into the crater, but the steam coming out is very visible and we can see much of the way down into it. The overview we are on is part of the Crater Rim Trail. David suggests we walk the trail and he would pick us up on the other side. Sounds like a plan.

Kilauea Crater

The trail is wonderful. Highly recommended in my book-if I was to write a book. We travel the rim of the Crater, able to look down and across and understand the immenseness of the various eruptions which have created this hole. But up on the rim is lush growth, both forest and flowers. The first half of the trail is paved, making for easy walking. There is a slight descend which eases our going. We stop often just to admire.

At the halfway mark, David catches up with us. Also the trail becomes much more populated. This part of the trail is dirt, so we are watching our steps a bit more than on the paved part. But the wonder of the trail has not lessened. When we come to a junction, we wonder where the part down goes to-then we see the path across the bed of a dormant part of the Kilauea Crater. There is a straight line, with a few dots which we see are people. At the end of the trail, we do a short ascent into the parking lot.

Sherri and Gary in the Lava Tube

We drive down to the Nahuku-Thurston Lava Tube. We have been here many a time. But it is almost a rite of passage that when we are here, we need to go. From the road, there does not look like much, but we walk a ways in and then descend into the tube. This is a cave made when the lava which ran through it hardened on the outside with the liquid rock draining out at the lower end. It is lite and well traveled, so there is no fear of getting lost and little of bumping our heads-lava hurts when that happens.

We come out at the other end and circle around to the entrance again. Our road continues on down the Road of the Craters until we get to an overlook of a lava field and the ocean. The lava field was created from an eruption in the 1970’s and is really expansive. We take it in for 20 minutes, before exiting.

Lava from the 1970's Eruption

None of us are interested in going down to the ocean so David turns around and we head back. By now it is after two and we are getting a bit hungry. But there is not much in the way of eats until we get to Hilo-no matter how much we look. We stop at Safeway to get gas. Sherri procures us a chicken sandwich through there as well. Tastes good and will tide us over.

Mochi

There are two places in Hilo which we want to go to. The first is Two Ladies Kitchen. That is for mochi. They make good stuff. We get a variety of mochi including peanut butter, brownie and Oreo mochi. A note to Gary: the Oreo mochi is much better sounding than actuality-Not saying it is bad, I just like the peanut butter and brownie better. Then we walk over to the Farmer’s Market. We pick up tomatoes and cilantro for tonight's dinner. Sherri wanders off and buys some canned stuff to be sent home.

Rainbow Falls

That ends our time in Hilo. Well almost. David takes us out by way of Rainbow Falls. By chance, this is currently the spash screen on my Windows laptop. Much prefer it in person. But the sun is at the wrong angle, so no rainbow today, just the beauty of the falls.

On our way back to the condo, we go over the Saddle again. It is raining pretty hard. Not sure how David is seeing the road. But it does two things. First, it rules out a short hike David was hoping to do on the saddle. The second is going up to the Mauna Kea visitor center would be a worthless excursion.

Even with this abbreviated venture, we get back to the condo at 5:15, pretty tired, and I did not drive today. David must be pretty wiped out. Kevin has been busy. He fixed dinner-chicken, rice, and veggies. Then it is time to watch the Olympics before going to bed.