Volcanoes National Park is located on the island of Hawaii between Hilo and Kona at about 4200 feet. The temperature is quite cool due to the altitude and yet it is tropical with gorgeous flowers and plants making hiking on the many trails in the park a real treat. The volcano is very active right now, an incredible sight to see.
It is said that Volcanoes National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. That statistic seemed strange to us because it never seems that crowded and it is far off the beaten track. We guess that it is partly due to the tropical climate allowing visitors come year round instead of just the summer months and the fact that the Volcano is very popular with Asian visitors. If you arrive at Volcano House, a hotel within the park, at lunch time, you may see large numbers of tourist buses emptying into the lobby for the lunch buffet.
When you arrive at the park, check out the visitor center first. They have great exhibits, park rangers to answer questions, a gift store, and a movie about the volcano.
You can walk to Volcano House from the visitors center. It is worth the visit to see the old hotel where Mark Twain stayed and to get a panoramic view of the volcano's caldera from the back of the hotel.
After
entering Volcano House, go through the lobby and to the other side
of the hotel. There is a viewing area there that looks toward the caldera. You get a great view of the volcano spewing gas from the lookout.
The basic layout of Volcanoes National park is a long circular road (Crater Rim Drive) around the main caldera of Kilauea with points of interest off this main road. Half of the road is closed now due to the massive output of gasses and rocks from the volcano. The major two sights not to miss in the park are the Jaggar museum and the Thurston lava tube.
Driving down Crater Rim Drive you can see the steam rising on the side of the road.
The Kilauea Military Camp is off Crater Rim Drive as you drive towards Jaggar Museum.
The Jaggar museum has some interesting exhibits but the best part is the overlook with an awesome view of the very active Halema'uma'u vent in the Kiliauea caldera.
The Thurston lava tube is a cleared cave created from a lava tube that is very fun to walk through. If you bring a flashlight you can climb down into uncleared tubes and investigate uncharted areas at the end of the Thurston lava tube.
If you are staying in Volcano town a while, there are some great hikes to take in the park. Our favorites are desolation trail and the trail to the Thurston lava tube along the crater.
Devastation trail is a great walk into the caldera of the active volcano. It is called that because an eruption destroyed everything there. You can see steam vents going off as you walk by and feel the heat.
Now that a vent has opened up in the caldera, there may be parts of the trail that are not accessible.
Hiking to Thurston lava tube along the caldera is another wonderful walk. You can park at Volcano House for a really long hike, or closer in a parking lot off of Crater Rim drive with a bathroom. The trail has some great views and lush follage.
Hiking to the lava flow use to be within the park and accessible from the Chain of Craters Road. We walked into the lava when it was flowing there in 2003. Oozing lava from the active volcano like the pictures below gives you an idea of what we saw on our walk. It is very exciting to watch fresh hot lava flowing. The tough part was walking into see it. The walk was several miles on jagged lava.
We stayed to see the lava at night and were surprised at how hard it was to see on our way out. Bring lots of flashlights, at least one for everyone in you party and spares. It took us about twice as long getting out at night as walking in at sunset. It is hard to see those big cracks in the lava in the dark even with a flashlight.
The lava is flowing outside of the park now, in Puna. You can get to the lava flow, which is currently flowing into the ocean, by driving out of Volcano toward Hilo and through Puna to Kalapana where the county of Hawaii has set up a parking lot.
Bring lots of water, good shoes, hats, sun screen, and flashlights. People that stray from the path have fallen into lava tubes. It can be dangerous, but the incredible views of the lava exploding upon impact with the water makes is a popular site.
