08/09/2019

I woke up to a slightly damp sleeping bag…don’t worry guys, it rained last night. The rainfly doesn’t cover the entire tent, and the inside edges of my tent got wet, and so did the bag since it was pressed against it.

However, I’m glad a bought the footprint for the tent, because the bottom of the tent was dry. But taking down a wet tent sucks, especially since I had to repack it in the stuff sack still damp.

First task of the day in Volcanoes is tackling the viewpoint up in Mauna Loa, the volcano. The trail can be driven, but at one point it goes from a two lane road to a one way, and it’s up, up, up on the tight winding road.

Before you head on up, there’s a side trail to drive through and you can get out and look at Tree Molds. These are deep holes that form when lava flowed and then hardened around the base of the tree instead of burning them down. The trees then disintegrate and the hole is formed. New trees then grow out of the hole! They’re pretty neat to see.

Next we did the Kipukapuaulu Trail. The ranger at the center had told us that it was a special trail; she said you could hear all the different kinds of birds and their songs in the morning. I can’t resist singing birds!

This trail is only about a mile and since it’s not walked very often, it’s kinda creepy. It’s also one of the only places you can find the Soapberry Tree in the world. If you stand still here, you can hear them drop their seeds from above. On this trail, there’s also plants as tall as I am! (Okay so it’s only 5 feet, but that’s tall for a plant)!

We came across what looked like a kids camping or hiking group. They were loud and kind of broke the tranquility of the trail. We moved on quickly and got to hear the birds again.

The trail is flat in most parts, but some parts are steep. There’s all kinds of wonders here, including this cool tree:

We finished the trail, where you have to clean your shoes due to invasive species being spread.

We then began the drive up to Mauna Loa. You pass through the Kīpuka Kī ecological area and several cattle guards on the road. At around the 15 mile mark, you start the one lane road. Don’t worry though; it’s all paved.

It’s only a total of about 11 miles one way, but it felt like longer than that. I was beginning to wish there were like markers on this drive; it started to feel endless.

At around 1100 AM, we made it to the lookout point, which stands at 6662 ft. We got out and walked a small trail to see the silver sword plant. It only has a lifespan of 10-30 years, blooms its flowers and drops its seeds, then dies. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any that had bloomed.

The view you get to see at the lookout is a pretty neat landscape.

There was this sticker for in-and-out burger on this box up here, which was weird and really out of place:

There’s a sign marking the beginning of the summit trail. You need special permission to hike and stay up there with the park; it’s summit is 13,677 ft and all kinds of warnings about hazards for health and weather are said. It still looks really fun to me though!

On the way down, you can see some hardened lava flow that’s marked:

Back to the bottom and back to Volcano House for a meal. We sat on the other side of the seating with a different view of the caldera. We got a burger this time, and admired these beautiful posters that were in the seating area:

Now it was off to start the famous Chain of Craters road! This can be done by vehicle with many things to stop and see along the way. Again, time is of the essence, and I didn’t want to drive in the park after dark.

There’s places to pull over so see smaller craters and hardened lava flow. Each is clearly marked so you know what you’re looking at and where you are on your map of the trail that you can get at the visitor’s center.

There’s this neat geological survey marker I found at one spot:

Vegetation fighting through the lava:

Vast flow that you can walk on and feel like you’re on another planet:

Mauna Ulu is a crater on the road that is 100 ft deep with a nice lookout point.

Keleakomo overlook also has a good platform to see the Pacific Ocean and the lava that destroyed the village of Keleakomo.

Driving down towards the sea, you come to the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs and the hike it takes to get to them. It’s the largest petroglyph place in Hawaii, sacred and dating back as far as 1200 A.D.

You walk about 1.5 miles total round trip on the lava itself to a boardwalk to see the carvings. It’s a rough walk on uneven footing, so be prepared. I didn’t see how people were walking on flip flops on this rock. Unlike some of the other hikes, there’s no shade out here. It’s reminiscent of a desert hike but with wind from the nearby ocean.

It’s amazing how preserved the etchings are!

Back to the car for the last stretch, and at last, you come to the majestic Hōlei Sea Arch, on the crest of the ocean and watch how the hard waves erode the cliffs with powerful force.

There were some European tourists there doing some ridiculous, obviously Instagram poses in front of the arch. One was a guy who put his hand through his hair and stood still for like a full minute. It was funny to watch.

There’s also these beautiful plants that I had to snap a photo of:

At the end of the road here, there’s a little stand that sells souvenirs and snacks. The woman working it pointed out this bird sailing above us, the frigate bird, that she said only comes around maybe once a year. She said it has a 9 ft wing span! I felt lucky to have seen it.

We had a coconut and a pineapple Mōkū fruit pop and listened to the ocean. It tasted like biting straight into a pineapple!

Time to drive back up the Chain of Craters road again. We got wonderful views like these and finally saw the state bird, the nēnē beside the road. You’re not allowed to feed them because they’ll associate cars and people with food, and get run over. They’re endangered! (Sorry, no pic of them, didn’t want to hit them)!

We drove to Hilo in the rain to our Airbnb which I hate to say was not exactly like it was advertised. It was small and in the middle of downtown like the page had said, but it was in a shady part of the town and the “Report human trafficking” sign at the gate of the complex was not reassuring. All it needed was the creepy blinking neon sign to complete the mood.

This place also didn’t have air conditioning but having a shower was nice to have. Everything we wore for the past 2 days smells like sulphur. This place also doesn’t have a washer or dryer so I’ll have to wash the clothes in the sink in the room.

It’s full on raining now but we walk to the McDonald’s across the street and grab a meal to eat in the room while the street sounds keep me awake for most of the night.