A day at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

It sounds a little crazy but seeing an active volcano has been on the list. I was visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with high hopes. I should have checked its website before getting too hopeful as the last volcanic eruption on National Park was in Dec 2020 and the volcanos have been silent since then. I was expecting to see some Lava but was unlucky to spot any of it.

My best memory of Big Island was our Airbnb built on the solidified lava formed from the last eruption of Kilauea. It was a small cottage build and surrounded by lava on all sides.

We had three days on Big Island, so we could not spend as much time as I wanted. We had a day to explore Hawaii Volcano National Park and we started our day at Kilauea Visitor Center to get an idea of what’s open. The famous Rim drive that loops around all the craters was half destroyed in the last eruption.

We started our tour with a hike towards Sulpher Banks and Steam vents. It kind of reminded me of Yellowstone where you could see steam vents all around you, the smell of sulphur in the air. Although it was at a smaller scale, it was fun to walk around the vents and learn about the history of the park.

We then drove to the Kilauea Overlook, which is the highest overlook point for the crater. The landscape is quite unusual, we could see a few older craters. I am sure it must be a spectacular view from where when there is active lava.

We missed the Lave tube tour on our Hana road trip but did not want that to be repeated. It’s a pleasant place to walk around! There’s a short walk through the jungle where you can see the volcanic crater and that takes you into the lava tube

We also wanted to go to Hōlei Sea Arch but halfway on the Chain of Craters road our fuel indicator started flashing low and we had to return in between. Though we did half of Chain of Craters I liked every part of it. It’s a road with lava on both sides and there are marks of where the lava was formed.

Staying on solidified lava and driving in between of Lava was definitely a memorable experience.