Volcano Park

Tuesday we drove to the National Park, viewed the park video and got pointers from the rangers about areas of interest.  Another ranger made an announcement that the lava lake at the crater by the Jagger Museum viewing area was active, mentioning it might continue to be visible, or not, so going sooner rather than later was advised . We joined the parade on the Crater Rim Drive and even found a parking spot.  It was impressive to watch the lava bubble and spurt in the lake.  We stopped by the steam vents on the drive back.

Active Volcano from the viewing area

Telephoto of the lava lake bubbling in the crater

Once again our gray hair had the ranger suggesting one of the shorter hikes, but we figured the 4 mile Kilauea Iki loop, one of the more popular hikes in the park, would be more to our liking.  While the trail descends 400 feet, much of the rim portion is in the rain forest and shaded making for pleasant hiking. The part across the crater looked like scenes from the moon - barren but for the bits of vegetation gradually taking root.  We'd done the hike in the right direction - with the trade wind providing a welcome breeze as we walked into it across the crater.  Once across, a gentler trail took us back through the rain forest back up tp the rim.

View of trail across the crater from the upper rim trail

Hapu u pulu Plant

Descending down into the crater note the people on the trail ahead of us

On the crater floor - it's not as smooth as it looked from the rim

Looking back once across the crater

While the forest canopy was filled with bird song, it was so dense we couldn't see the birds for the leaves.  It's amazing that 2 so different ecosystems, rain forest and moonscape, can exist in such close proximity.  Once back on the rim, we toured the Thurston Lava Tube before walking the last  half mile to the car.  The 500 year old lava tube was interesting - a somewhat short, lighted tunnel - a shorter version than the longer unlit tube that requires reservations for the few folks lucky enough to score one.

Short Lava Tube

We hiked the Devastation Trail, a short trail that skirts between the ash and rain forest behind the S side of the Kilauea Caldera.  Unfortunately, part of the trail was closed due to nesting birds. We did spot a pair of Kalij Pheasants on the way back to the car.

Devastation Trail through an ash field

 Kalij pheasant 

Realizing we didn't have to do the whole park in a day, we decided to save several other areas on the Chain of Craters Road, running from the park to the ocean for another day, possibly when we move our base to the other side of the island on Thursday.