Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Welcome, curious traveler, to the awe inspiring expanse of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Situated on the rugged southern flank of the Big Island, this extraordinary sanctuary was established in the year nineteen sixteen and has…

Our first analytical stop takes us along the Sulfur Banks trail, a fascinating one point two mile loop that offers a direct sensory encounter with the geothermal activity occurring directly beneath our boots. As you walk along…

Continuing our walk across the main crater rim road, we arrive at the expansive and dramatic Steam Vents area, which provides one of our first comprehensive vantage points overlooking the massive Kee-low-ay-uh caldera. Unlike the…

We now transition our focus to the Kee-low-ay-uh Iki Lookout, a site of immense historical and vulcanological significance. Looking down from this heavily forested ridge, you are viewing a crater that was the stage for one of the…

Having descended the steep, heavily vegetated switchbacks of the trail, we now stand directly upon the vast, hardened floor of the Kee-low-ay-uh Iki crater. You are currently walking across the surface of what was once a…

Emerging from the open expanse of the crater, we now plunge into a profoundly different environment, a dense, prehistoric looking fern gully that conceals the entrance to the Thurston Lava Tube, known to native Hawaiians as…

Returning to the surface, we navigate to a paved path appropriately named the Devastation Trail. This location offers a stark, deeply educational contrast to the lush rainforest canopies we have previously explored. …

As our comprehensive exploration of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park draws to a close, we must consider the expansive nineteen mile journey down the Chain of Craters Road, a route that descends nearly four thousand feet to the…