Visiting the Volcano

When I woke up on Sunday morning it was still raining. And since the garage roof has so many holes it looked like the car had sat out in the rain all night!

The view out my bedroom window this morning.

The very wet garage; this is why I am having the roof changed.

We had made arrangements the previous evening to meet in Waimea; it didn't make sense for Mary Ellen & Michael to pick me up in Kapa'au or for me to meet them at their hotel in Kona. I chose to meet at the Parker Ranch Center because of the paniolo murals; there was also a honu sculpture right at the entrance.

One of the 18 paniolo murals in the Parker Ranch Center.

Michael wanted to see a waterfall, so after checking the guide books we settled on Akaka Falls. We picked up some munchies and refreshments and headed for the Akaka Falls State Park. There are some really nice interpretive signs at the parking lot as well as at the falls. There was also a really nice explanatory sign as to why one of the alternate trails was not open for use.

Michael & Mary Ellen at Akaka Falls.

One of the interpretive signs.

The maintenance sign.

The maintenance sign explained about the invasive albizia trees. We had seen some dead ones on the drive up to the falls, as well as immediately adjacent to the state park. That area next to the state park was maintained by the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program; it was nice to see them doing something to get rid of the albizia.


Then we headed for the main attraction of the day, the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Michael had an America the Beautiful pass; it turns out if you have this pass your entire carload of people gets in free to the National Park or Federal Recreational Land that you are visiting. So if you are 62 or older, get to your nearest national park or federal recreational land to buy a pass; do it before August 28 in order to get it for $10, after that it will be $80 for this lifetime pass. I got mine today while we were there.


We started out at the Jagger Museum overlooking the Kilauea caldera. It was raining when we got there and most people were in the building. Later we discovered they were actually in the building not due to the rain but because the air quality had deteriorated and the rangers had ordered everyone in until it improved.

Mary Ellen checking out the activity at Kilauea crater.

We headed to the Thurston Lava Tube next where we were greeted by a sign that said we needed to have a flashlight since the regular lights were not working due to getting flooded. We decided to use the flashlight app on our phones. On the way back to the car my right shoe started to delaminate. Again. I didn't have any duct tape or shoe goo so I had to make do with dental floss. New item for tomorrow's To Do List: buy new shoes!



Our next stop was the Devastation Trail, we started at the Pu'u Pua'i end of the trail. In 1959 an eruption of Kilauea Iki threw cinders in to the air covering part of an ohia lehua forest. The trail goes through the forest as well as the cinder area; one end is at the Kilauea Iki overlook. On the way back we saw a small flock of nene foraging; one of them came out to take a look at us. The nene is an endangered goose that is the Hawai'i state bird.

Michael & Mary Ellen checking out the interpretive sign at Pu'u Pua'i.

Mary Ellen on the trail on the cinder cone.

Mary Ellen looking at Kilauea Iki.

Nene checking us out.

We continued down on this portion of the Chain of Craters Road towards Mauna Ulu. From there we could look back and see the vog being spewed out by Kilauea. The dental floss held my shoe together for the remainder of our outings for the day.

Looking back towards Kilauea at the vog.

On the way back up we stopped at one of the view points where we could see the steam rising out of the sea from where the lava was entering the ocean. We were unable to see it when we were closer to it at the end of the road near the ocean bluff.


We had originally planned on having dinner in Waimea, but it was about 5:30 as we were leaving the park and Waimea was about 80 miles away. Hilo was only 26 miles away so we changed our plans. After hurriedly consulting the various tour guides and books we decided to go to the Hilo Burger Joint. I had Le Burger Cordon Bleu, Michael had the Hamburger Steak Platter, and I can't remember what Mary Ellen had. You will have to trust us on how they looked, we were so hungry after hiking around all day (and the food was so good) that what you see below is when I remembered about the photos! A chorus of coqui frogs live in the foliage at the Hilo Burger Joint, they were making a lot of noise. In fact, we could hear them as we drove through the rest of Hilo. They are another invasive species that the county is working to eliminate.

Le Burger Cordon Bleu with cole slaw.

Hamburger Steak Platter.

Mary Ellen's burger.

It was about 8:45 by the time they dropped me off at the car in Waimea. I returned via the coast road since it was drizzling in Waimea, which meant it was most likely raining on the mountain road. Although it is only 19 miles to Hawi via the mountain road and about 29 miles via the coast road, when it is wet it is faster to use the coast road. I was back home by about 9:30. And guess what, it was raining in Kapa'au! Which means it was now quite certain that it was raining on the mountain road. From the looks of the garage it was probably raining for most of the day.

Happy Birthday to Beverly (we were talking about you today, were your ears burning?), Nga, & Jacob!