Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

It's raining. Still. Strong, tropical, warm. Well, there are some brightenings, maybe the weather will change. You don't have to believe weather forecasts here, you cannot predict the tropics.

We decide to visit the Volcano National Park today. It's not far away and so big that you can easily go there 2-3 times. The ticket is a 7-day pass, so you can come and go whenever and as often as you want.

The ascent on Highway 11 is gentle, at the Visitor Center at the park entrance you are at about 1200 meters above sea level. It's drizzling, foggy. Or it's raining and it's steam from the volcano, it cannot be determined, only that it's wet, that's as certain as Amen in church.

We start the tour at the info center, where all roads and hiking trails, all attractions, craters, lava fields, steam vents and viewpoints are marked on large maps. There are many rangers there who answer questions and give tips. Some shop windows show the formation of Hawaiian volcanoes, as well as the animal and plant life here in the park. Of course, there is also a large souvenir shop :-).

Then we set off, past steaming earth holes and fissures (which I naturally have to explore on my own away from the concrete steam vents, much nicer!!) to the Jaggar Museum. This is a mini museum where geology is explained again and the types of rock and lava. From the museum's observation platform, you supposedly have the best view of the active shield volcano Halema'uma'u, you can see the lava boiling. If you can see anything at all. Because it keeps raining, visibility is about 10-20 meters, plus the smoke and steam from the volcano, it creates a single gray soup. Well, we still have a few days, we can come back. And maybe the view is better on the other side.

We now drive the Chain of Craters Road, which leads half around the lava lake and then down to the sea on the former lava flow, to the Holei Sea Arch, a spectacular lava arch in the sea.

Along the way, there are many viewpoints where you can look into the many secondary craters. Sometimes we're lucky and can see a bit, sometimes we can't see anything because of the haze.

At the Kilauea Iki Crater Overlook, the view is mediocre and we take a short hiking trail along the crater rim, which allows for some spectacular views into the crater! We come to a cave, the Thurston Lava Tube. It formed when the outer-cooled lava solidified, while it continued to flow inside. A so-called lava tube was created. It is lit inside, you can walk through it and at the other end you come out in the rainforest, walk along a small path, which comes out again at the hiking trail. When we're back at the car, we're wet on the outside, top, bottom, and dirty. The paths are quite muddy because of the weather. But it was a great hike!

We have a little lunch break at the Vulcano House, which is a hotel and restaurant. I sit by the fireplace to dry my clothes, it works great. After a portion of poke (raw tuna), which we enjoy with a view of the crater, we are ready for more adventures.

We continue driving and take a turn to the Hilina Pali Overlook, which is a super small, winding wave course that doesn't seem to end and leads through bizarre landscapes. As far as the eye can see, there are lava fields, but always different. Sometimes smooth surfaces with hardly any vegetation, sometimes compressed, sometimes rocky, impressive and wild! A wild boar crosses our path in surprise. Eventually, we reach the end of the road, from where you can see the sea. If you can. We see nothing, it's super foggy again. Oh yeah and it's raining... We drive back to the Chain of Craters and follow it with increasingly poor visibility all the way to the coast. Here, at least, we can see the Sea Arch well, here is again the rough sea that joins the eerie and beautiful lava field and somehow makes you forget all the bad weather with its sight and its incredible force.

We drive back, stop by a little, we're tired, happy, and a little sad because we would have liked to see more. But the weather is unpredictable on the mountain anyway, and we are in the rainy season. So far, we have just been incredibly lucky! And fortunately, we can go up again, it's not far and we have a 7-day pass :-)

By the way, it's still raining, all night long...