Big Island Hawaii part 4

Dec 6, 2007 - Hilo area, Hawaii (volcano NP)

Bit of a downer rainy day today, but that didn't slow down 3 fearsome adventurers on a tight schedule. Today was the day to go see what that Volcano park was all about, plus drive down the coast and find one of the fabled black sand beaches and a hot spring pool.

Its a bit hard to find out what and where some of the lesser known attractions are on this island, so it helps to ask a lot of questions to fellow adventurers. So we figured out a general direction, and set out in Swiss Dan's rental PT Cruiser for the day's journey.

a day of driving

Hilo Bay Hostel

-Volcano national park-

unfortunately, the best view of the volcano caldera today was on a map

a cloudy day at volcano np.

a brief glimps at Kilauea overlook (0.9 mb video)

wee bit of history

nice view of the sign

The Thurston lava tube provided a nice shelter, on this cold rainy day at 4000'...for people wearing shorts and no jackets.

The entry
3.4 mb video

The insides
3.7 mb video

thurston lava tube entrance

rubber boots should be recommended inside

should'a brought a torch for this section

entering the dark side

-Chain of Craters road-

Heading east of the caldera, towards the coast, we didn't see many craters...being stuck inside the thick clouds. This highway, however, does have a stretch along the coastline that had fallen prey to the current most active volcano in the world. Back in '83 the lava flows began, and had this road for lunch, along with some hapless coastal village. This is where all the "lava flowing into the sea" pictures came from, but last August, there were a number of earthquakes that redirected the flows to an inaccessible location.

the cruiser looked at home on 'chain of craters' road (1.0 mb video)

half mile walk from here (3.75 mb video)

end of the line, up ahead

should have brought the jeep

no kidding!!

looks promising

lava bluffs ( 1 mb video ) : lava hike ( 4 mb video)

i'm guessing there was a good reason for these signs being placed some 50' back from the edge, but as that guy on that dodgy looking spire said, "no risk, no reward".

-A black sand beach-

We happened on this beach mostly by chance; there was only a little sign at a dead end saying 'beach 1/4 mile', or somthing. Well, it was worth the walk, rain and all; most of the other beaches on this island are rock.

1/4 mile to the beach (2.2 mb video)

Will is just too late to make a lava angel

looks like an evil place (2.0 mb video)

...(3.1 mb video)

blacker than it looks (3.1 mb video)

one small step

-Hot spring pool-

The friendly Israeli girl we met back at the hostel in Kona said there was a hot spring pool up this coastline somewhere, but we were having some trouble finding it. So we stopped and asked a local for directions, who having a drink out of the back of his expensive suv. I'm not sure what he said, but we eventually found it fortuitously, in driving up the coast. It was a nice reprieve after a chilly soaking wet day (2.8 mb video).

A short drive back to Hilo followed, and the day was spent. Swiss Dan said farewell, and headed back to Kona, and then we went for our usual supper eat out. A cheeseburger for me, and something expensive and exotic for Will; it was nice of that Scottish girl back at the hostel to do our laundry for us.

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