We returned to the Hilo side of the island again today to visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Unlike our trip last year, Kilauea hadn’t erupted in a few months, and the weather was perfect (we’d brought ponchos in case it was raining and fleece jackets in case it was cool – all of which stayed in the car).
We started with a quick stop at the Visitor Center to get ideas for the afternoon, and a longer stop at Volcano House to have a snack and admire the view of the Kilauea Caldera from their back porch.
While Kilauea hadn’t erupted since September, it’s still active, and the USGS is keeping a close eye on its condition; there have been more small earthquakes than usual in the last couple of weeks, but they don’t think anything is imminent.
We wanted to hike over to the Kilauea Iki Overlook, but we took a wrong turn as we left Volcano House and found ourselves on the Halema’uma’ui Trail, going down to the 1974 lava flow at the edge of the caldera. The trail guide would have been useful, but I didn’t discover it until I started writing this blog entry!
When we reached the lava flow, I looked closely at the map and decided we’d walk the Byron Ridge Trail along the lava field which would eventually take us to the Kilauea Iki Trail and the Kilauea Iki Overlook. We crossed the lava field easily (thanks to the ahu (stacked rocks) that NPS uses to mark the trail).
What I hadn’t realized was that we had to climb up a few hundred feet to get to the intersection of the Byron Ridge and the Kilauea Iki Trails. It was an easy climb, but we were low on water by the time we got to the top, so we changed plans and went back to Volcano Lodge on the Crater Rim Trail.
Next time we come to the Big Island, we’ll plan to spend a couple of nights on the Hilo side (perhaps at Volcano Lodge) instead of commuting from the Kona side – that would give us four hours a day more to do things instead of driving! I’ll also research the trails much more carefully (or, at the very least, ask the ranger to mark our map!) and bring more water.
We got back to Volcano Lodge at 3pm, just as the kitchen was closing, so we couldn’t have lunch there. I checked Yelp and found a promising new restaurant, Wyatt’s Place about half an hour away. When we got there, it was strangely familiar; – we’d eaten there last year when it was called the Dimple Cheek Cafe. The new owners are in the process of remodeling the place; they have a limited menu, limited seating, but they make a very good french dip sandwich (they recommended we split one, and it was plenty) and I hope they succeed.
We took Hawaii Route 200 (Saddle Road) back to the Marriott.
There wasn’t much traffic in our direction, but I did have to brake for a wild goat crossing the highway!
We plan on staying on this side of the island tomorrow. :-)