Happy 20th Anniversary!
The theme of the day was celebration and hot eruptions. Get your mind out of the gutter!
During the night the wind made the wooden cottage creak like a tree house. It was not raining but the wind would shake mist from the tree canopy above. As the air was still thick with clouds when we arrived at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park this morning, we bypassed the main crater overlooks and went directly to the lava tubes parking lot. The trail is a short journey underground and about a quarter mile long. The normally half-mile loop was partially under construction and so at the half-way point the tunnel had a wall made of plywood and the sound of busy construction workers on the other side. It was just open and airy enough to not be claustrophobic but there was at least one lady that was completely terrified as she descended the stairs.
In the higher-altitude parts of the park it's very lush
From here we drove the 20-mile long Chain of Craters road, which is exactly what it sounds like. A series of old volcanic sites dot the jungle landscape. There are a few short and long hiking trails along the route, including some lava flow excursions. We kept driving until we reached the long and windy slopes towards the sea and below the line of clouds. We did the 1.5 mile petroglyph loop trail. Along the way the air was filled with the sinister rattling sounds of devil-bean pods, the poisonous seed pods of crotalaria retusa.
We saw a lot of these tall Kahili Ginger flowers all over the park
There were several beautiful species of shrubs and flowers along the trail also. At the petroglyphs there was a circular boardwalk to protect the site. The exact meaning of the markings is unknown but it is theorized that they are representative of families that lived (a harsh existence) in the area.
The red ohia lehua is the official flower for the island of Hawaii
The smoother the lava, the hotter it flowed
The Chain of Craters road ends at a scenic viewpoint of a rugged sea-arch and coastline. There is a road that continues past the edge of the park from this point. However, its use is restricted to emergency evacuation only. There are active volcanoes in the area, after all.
By now it was around mid-day and the park was willing up with people. We drove to Hilo to check out a local coffee roastery – Hans’ pick for a place to sample different coffees from different areas on Hawai’i. What a find!
While the western region of Hawai’i of Kona is well known for the high quality coffee, nearby southpoint Ka’u is also gaining attention for the flavor profiles of its coffee.
Big Island Coffee Roasters was offering two choices of coffee tasting flights: One light to medium roast and one dark roast, three coffees for each. Hans and I each selected one to share so that we could taste them all (that’s a lot of coffee, haha).
We definitely had our favorites and least favorites, but no outright dislikes. I appreciated the flavors of the lighter roasts but overall I’m still a dark roast girl. Hans’ fave was the 100% Kona dark roast called Kona Moon and I enjoyed the Kona/Ka’u dark roast blend called Hawaiin Harmony.
It was a little late in the day since breakfast so we also shared one of their wrap sandwiches.
Cacao trees just outside of the farm store we stopped at
There was some gift shopping yet to do so we drove further into town and visted some local stores at the main plaza near the bay. Our final stop was up the gentle slopes of Hilo and we went to Lavaloha chocolate producers. The nice lady at the store informed us that all of their tours were done for the day. We said that was fine because were there to shop! Many moneys later we were on our way back to Volcano Village Estates.
We had dinner reservations at the white tablecloth restaurant called The Rim at the historic Hawaii Volcano House hotel, an establishment that was grandfathered in by NPS as the only hotel allowed to operate inside of the park.
When we arrived to the caldera, which had been fully enveloped in mist this morning, it had cleared out and we were treated to a lovely volcano sunset. Even the top of Mauna Loa was visible. The restaurant was somewhat empty when we approached the hostess to be seated. At first one of the servers set us up at a table in the middle of the room. We barely had time to have a sip of water when the hostess came over and moved us to an empty table right by the windows. I don’t know if it was because we were obviously dressed for a special occasion or she thought it was poor form to leave window-view tables unoccupied. Whatever the reason was, we weren’t complaining! We had a full view of the caldera and Mauna Loa.
Their tiki drinks were supposed to be top-notch but I wanted some pink sparkling wine for the evening. Hans got a Mauna Loa Mojito and it was darn good. Later he ordered their Guava Flow, which was basically a pina colada with guava syrup added, and it was super tasty as well.
Our meal was excellent, but the star of the evening was the volcano itself, Kilauea. The active volcano inside of the national park has been periodically fountaining since December of 2024 and the USGS website predicts that the next event is likely to occur sometime between today and Saturday. This meant that at dinner all eyes were eagerly turned towards the caldera. In the last 24 hours it had been reported that steam and occasional glow was observed at the vents.
About 30 minutes after sunset there was a sudden distant small glow, followed by another glowing area that threw a few sputters of lava. The patrons all cheered and applauded excitedly. Hans said “great pick, love” for arranging for our special celebration spot. What an evening.
After paying for our meal we dashed to the car in the parking lot and retrieved our camera equipment and a tripod and went to the overlook right outside of the hotel. Though the glow did not progress any further beyond occasional sputters, it was neat to view the activity with a telephoto lens.
Evening vent glow at the volcano
Back at the cottage we had some nice Hilo-made mocha chocolate and a bit more of the Volcano Red wine.
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