Volcanoes National Park

The main attraction on the Big Island is Volcanoes National Park. It is located on the south side of the island. The park had numerous walking trails, varying in length and difficulty. The Kilauea Iki Trail goes down a cliff and across the bottom of an active crater. It was interesting to see how variable the crater floor was with a range of hardened Pahoehoe and A'a lava. Steam was venting through the cracks in the ground. The Sandlewood Trail follows the top edge of the crater and goes past several steam vents in the grass, and passes near some sulphur vents too. Devastation Trail shows what an area looks like after an erruption when the vegetation starts growing back, as it passes through a region that was adjacent to a 1959 eruption.

A 20 mile road, called Crater Rim Drive circles Kilauea's Caldera. Besides the trails, there are many stops worth making along the road. The Thurston Lava Tube is a short well-lit tube that is open to the public. Honey-creepers are attracted to the nearby forest making it a worthwhile place to take the time for pictures. We saw some red Apapane and I'iwi high up in the trees. There are also many places to stop and see old lava flows. One particularly noxious area is a sulphur vent field.

Movie Clips

This clip is a 360 degree pan inside the Kilauea Iki Crater when we hiked into the crater floor. Note the steam coming out of the ground in some places.
Clip 4 [4,264KB]

One of the popular stops along Crater Rim Drive includes an area with a lot of sulphur vents. We didn't stay for very long.
Clip 5 [1,666KB]