Big Island Part 2
Alright, I've been on this rock long enough, time to see some volcanos. Yeah, real life volcanos and real life lava. I was fired up. A short drive out to Volcano National Park and I was on top of an active volcano. I started out by investigating the main caldera. In an entirely predictable bummer, the National Park Service has severely limited the ability to get close to the lava lake. They did have a few telescopes set up, and it was super cool to see the lava lake bubbling away (apparently it rarely does that), but I thought they should let everyone a little closer. I then bounced around to a few different areas of interest, steam vents, old lava tubes and the tops of old volcanos. My favorite place, without active lava, was the Kilauea Iki trail, which I recommend to anyone who visits the park. The trailhead starts in a rain forest, and leads you gently downwards to the main attraction, the cooled lava lake of Kilauea Iki. According to reports I've read, when this part of the volcano was active, the gas bubbles would cause waves in the lake (like waves on the ocean) and lava fountains reached roughly 1900' high (taller than the Empire State Building). The lake has since cooled off, although there are a few steam vents visible, and you can walk right across it. It's a very surreal place to walk around. You are dropped out of this forest onto a field of black, cooled lava. The wind is the only thing you hear and everything around you looks like something out of a movie.
View from the top - looking down into Kilauea Iki. The grey line is the trail across the lava lake.
It was still kinda early in the day and I was already all the way out in the park, so I decided to go and see the lava flow into the ocean. After a scenic drive over old lava fields, down a lava cliff, and across more old lava fields, I reached the trailhead to the active flows. It's a four something mile hike out, plus whatever exploring you want to do around the lava flows. I started my trek in high spirits, I was about to see real life lava, life would soon be complete. I found out that walking alone for four miles on gravel that is crinch/crunching under your every step is somewhat maddening. Nothing is alive around you, again the only thing you hear is wind and everything had a kind of ominous feel. Undeterred, I forged on to where I could see steam rising into the sky. As soon as I reached the end of the trail I slid under the rope barrier and walked right to the edge of the cliff. Much to my dismay, I couldn't see a single drop of lava flowing into the ocean. Then I got caught by a park ranger. As luck would have it, I wasn't the only one at the edge so I didn't get a ticket. I walked around to the other side of the roped off area, went back under the rope, and managed to catch some glimpses of lava meeting the Pacific Ocean through the clouds of toxic steam. Still not satisfied and no longer burdened by my fear of falling into lava pits, I trekked all around searching for some surface flows. I left defeated. Another four miles back, in the growing gloom of dusk with nothing to show for my efforts. I ended up walking almost 18 miles that day, and I slept like a defeated baby that night.
I was feeling salty since I failed my mission, and I didn't want to waste any of my time on the Big Island hiding from rain in Hilo. I started driving westward to recover. After a quick stop at a devilishly good bakery, I arrived at the parking lot for Green Sands Beach, Papakolea in Hawaiian. It had been cloudy with light sprinkles all morning, but I decided to risk the one and a half mile hike out to the beach instead of paying $15 dollars to a local in a 4x4 truck for a ride. This turned out to be a mistake. About three quarters of a mile into the hike the rain picked up and walking in flip flops on muddy off road trails became a chore. After a few choice words yelled into the howling winds and several near falls into pools of mud, I made it to the old cinder cone that forms the perimeter of Green Sand Beach. It was totally worth the hike out. The small beach is surrounded by an impressive cliff wall, and the angle of the rocks' layers makes it look like the whole area is tipping into the sea. Greenish sand spills down certain parts of the old cinder cone and fills the beach. I did a quick google to find out that the green sand is caused by the presence of a mineral called Olivine. A little more googling revealed that there are only four green sand beaches in the world. I had no idea how rare they were.
The old cinder cone that formed Green Sand Beach.
A short drive from Papakolea is the southern most point in the US. Did you think it was in Key West too? Turns out that is the southern most point in the continental United States. There isn't much there besides a few local fisherman (who are completely uninterested in talking to us haoles) and some40' cliffs. Naturally, like any self respecting adventurer, I threw myself off the cliffs and into the sea. Surprisingly, there is a ladder to climb back up. Even more shocking was the construction of the ladder. It is connected in sections that swing as the waves move under you. The first climb up was almost as exciting as the jump down, almost.
Some cheery weather and cliffs at South Point.
Following my standard operating procedures, I waited far too long to find a place to camp. I googled a couple potential campsites, picked the one with the most interesting name and started driving. I got there a little bit before they closed but not before the sun went down and set my tent up in the dark. I wasn't the happiest camper, but at least I wasn't sleeping in a rental car. As the sunrise illuminated my little beach and I enjoyed my usual breakfast, consisting of a fruit cup and two Biscoff cookies, I decided I would go throw my mask on and swim around. Hawaii always delivers, as soon as I got out past the shore pound I heard one of my favorite underwater sounds, dolphins chatting away with their sonar. Before I knew it I was in a pod of about thirty dolphins, all swimming and playing around me. These dolphins were even more friendly and curious than the ones I swam with on Oahu. They were swimming just out of reach on several occasions. Some of them were even playing with leaves one of the other swimmers brought out. The vibes you get from swimming with dolphins is hard to describe, but it's a thing. I got out of the water smiling like an idiot and sat on the beach for a while looking out at the ocean and the occasional splash of a jumping dolphin.
Oceanfront penthouse - 1/2 bedroom / 0 bath / no wifi
How could I top that morning? I thought getting high, really high, might work. So after a quick breakfast I started heading towards Mauna Kea, a massive dormant volcano whose summit rests at 13,796' above sea level, or over 33,000' from its base, which is well beneath the ocean's surface. Here is some more science for all my nerds out there. Big Island is home to ten of the world's fourteen climate zones (the three that are missing are in the Cold Continental Climate category). This means that when you drive around the island you pass through wildly varying scenery. The drive up to Mauna Kea was especially memorable because I drove from sea level to almost 14,000', I got to pass through every climate zone that day.
I definitely didn't drive my two wheel drive rental car up but if I had, I would've known that it was 46ºF at the top. I ran around real quick in my boardies, T-shirt and ever present flip flops for a minute before tossing a pair of jeans and a jacket on. The whole area around the top resembles Mars. Most of the ground and rocks are red from oxidizing and since you're at such a high altitude there are no plants. I may or may not have quoted Mark Watney a couple times as I walked to the summit. Unfortunately, the usual rain clouds from the east had already covered that coast with cloud cover but I could still make out the ocean far below if I looked to the north or west. Aside from the view, there are only twelve observatories at the top (which are all locked, yes I checked) so I headed back down and made off towards Hilo once again.
