Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

If you like volcanoes, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii (The Big Island) is a place you’ll want to visit. This park has not one but two active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. Since its first well-documented eruption in 1843, Mauna Loa has erupted 34 times and last erupted in November through December 2022. When I was there in January 2023, it was Kilauea’s turn and it was actively erupting so much that I could see lava spewing and flowing during the day just using the zoom lens on my camera.

A live-stream video of the lava lake from Kilauea is available at: https://www.youtube.com/usgs/live. This is exactly what I saw when I was at the park. Park rangers have clearly marked the best spot to see the eruption, so you just follow the signs marked “Active eruption” from the visitor center and it’s a short, easy walk (or at least it was for me). The best advice for anyone, which I was told upon entering the park, is to go straight to the visitor’s area to talk to rangers there about current eruptions and trail conditions.

Active volcanoes aside, there are many trails at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and other unique areas to explore. One of my favorite parts of the park is the Nahuku (Thurston Lava Tube). It’s incredible to see a rainforest in the park in juxtaposition to all of the black rock from past lava flows and a giant lava tube formed from an eruption 500 years ago so big you can easily walk through it. The tube is lit from 8 am to 8 pm but you need to bring your own light outside of those hours. Another one of my favorite trails is the Kilauea Iki Trail, where you walk along the solidified lava lake on the floor of Kīlauea Iki crater.

The giant lava tube is just behind me

You can see (and feel) steam vents and sulfur banks along the Ha’akulamanu Trail. At Puʻuloa Petroglyphs there are 23,000 petroglyphs in the area. You can safely (for the protection of the petroglyphs) see many of them from boardwalks. For something perhaps unexpected, walk in a huge rainforest on the Halema’uma’u Trail (the phrase from destruction comes creation comes to mind). Another example of this is the Kipukapualu Trail. The walk will take you through a “kīpuka,” an area of older vegetation surrounded by a more recent lava flow from Mauna Loa.

There are also backcountry camping sites at the park. You just need to purchase a permit for $10 that covers up to 10 people up to 7 nights, on top of the park entrance fee. I think this would be an awesome thing to do but you would need to pack in absolutely everything you’d need since you’d be completely on your own (no food, no fresh water, no shelter, etc.).

You can also stay at the Volcano house, which has 33 rooms, albeit they’re pricey, at around $300/night before taxes and fees. They also have rustic cabins with just beds inside and a fire pit outside for $80/night. There’s also a restaurant, The Rim at Volcano House, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dinner especially can be quite expensive, as you can imagine. There are also rental properties in the nearby village of Volcano that are more reasonably priced and within a short drive of the park.

If you’re not really a hiker, no worries, there are two driving tours and none of the roads in the park require four-wheel drive vehicles. The first is the Crater Rim Drive. After you enter the park and go past the visitor center, begin your tour at Kīlauea Overlook and work your way clockwise along Crater Rim Drive. There are many well-marked overlooks and other stops with little walking needed.

The Chain of Craters Road goes north to south in the park, beginning at the Kīlauea summit and ending at the Holei Sea Arch. I had never been to the sea arch before (this was my third time in the park) and it’s worth going the extra bit to see it. Basically the road ends and there’s a parking lot from which you walk to the viewing area for the Holei Sea Arch. I’m a sucker for jagged cliffs off the ocean and this has that plus an arch of black lava rock extending into the water. It was much more beautiful in person than the photo can do it justice.

Holei Sea Arch is worth the drive to the southern part of the park

One final word of advice: be sure you check the National Park website before you go. Roads and trails are often closed either because of weather conditions, active volcanoes, or to protect animals in the park. You can also check on various parking lot conditions; many fill up by 10 am. You will be given a map to the park upon entry so keep that to help navigate because it’s a large park and it would be easy to miss something. Also, wifi and gas stations are spotty so download the area on your phone first and fill up before heading out to the park. https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm

Do you like volcanoes? Have you been to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park?

Happy travels!

Donna

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