Byatangajwe: 22.02.2018
The penultimate day, how time flies! We are going up to Mauna Lea again, this time on a small, very small road up to about 2000 m. Up there starts one of the longest and most difficult hiking trails in Hawaii and there is a lookout point. The road goes on endlessly, is only one lane and quite bumpy from halfway. Not the best terrain for our Mustang 😳
Once we reach the top, we walk a section of the trail that leads through the huge plateau of the dormant volcano. So you walk and think, oh there is an edge ahead, you can probably see far from there. But it's just another plateau. The path requires full concentration because loose lava rocks, tree roots, and constant ups and downs can quickly lead to a misstep. And the lava is sharp like glass.
If you hike up here, you need to have good condition and equipment, it goes up to about 3,400 m and the weather conditions can change from heat to snowstorm in a short period of time. After a while, we turn around and drive back to the highway and into Vulcano Park. This time we visit the craters in the sun and the large lava fields heat up properly!
Actually, we wanted to drive down to the lava flow, but it's already too late for that. So we end the day at Kaleos with seafood and spare ribs 😉👍🏻