Travel to the Big Island
Part V
Aug.29th (Mon.)
I awaked up midnight and couldn't sleep, so I drank beer and Kakinotane which I bought at the supermarket of Parker Ranch in Waimea. When I saw in the sky, I found a lot of stars which reminded me of Grand Titon National Park in USA and Mutterｈorn in Swiss. If we go up to Mt. Mauna Kea, I thought that we would be able to see much more stars which are famous for observation of stars.
I got up 9 o'clock and it was cloudy. I felt very comfortable and it was not hot even no air conditioned. I could see the rainbow over the Hilo bay.
As I made a decision to go to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, my wife made Omusubi in the room. My stomach was not so good, so I took a medicine "Seirogan" for stomach.
We left our room at 10 am and drove to Kilauea Caldera which is very famous for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was about 50 minutes from Hilo town. It was very easy access from Hilo, because the route 11 connects between Hilo and Kilauea Caldera directly and the paved road maintained well made us very comfortable drive. It was cloudy and sometimes raining near the destination. At first we dropped in Kilauea Visitor Center and got a drive map of Kilauea Caldera.
We can explore the summit of Kilauea Volcano via Crater Rim Drive having 11 miles loop drive. There are several view spots having parking lots. The first place stopped was Steam Vents. The spot gave us whole view of the Kilauea Caldera and also steam vents spots emitted steams from various places. It was cold and we wore long sleeve. But near the vent spot the steam came out and very hot. The weather was cloudy and foggy and steam came out, so we could not see the Kilauea Caldera well. We waited for clear view. Next we stopped at Jaggar Museum. As we stood close to Halema'uma'u Crater which is most active one, we could see the Kilauea Caldera clearly from observation place.
We stopped at SW Rift Zone. This place is easy access to clacked zone. The clack goes continuously far away.
Halema'uma'u Crater spot is the best place to overlook Halema'uma'u Crater. It was ten minutes walk from parking lot to the rim of steaming crater, the heart of the volcano. Not only the steam, but also sulfur gas came out, so we were cuffing when we were walking along the trail.
Keanakaoki Crater is another crater which is smaller than Halema'uma'u Crater.
The Chain of Craters Road passes through many craters active recently and goes to the Sea Arch in the ocean. We stopped at Mauna Ulu. This 38 miles roundtrip drive descends 1128 m to the coast and ends where lava crossed the road in 2003. Still this area is active and lava flows into the ocean below Kilauea volcano at twilight.
After returning from Chain of Craters Road, we went to Thurston Lava Tube. It is located near the visitor center and is easily accessible. Molten lava flowed underground, and then cooled to form a tube. We walked through lush rain forest to explore a 500 years old lava cave.
We dropped in Volcano House Hotel operated by National Park. It looked like mountain lodge which is the same style as another lodges in the National Parks of USA. We can see a good view from the house. The house location is nice and we took a rest outside the house sitting at bench made of wood.
We returned Hilo by way of shopping mall in Hilo and bought food and fruits. We passed through tranquil Hilo bay. I realized that the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel is best location. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. It cost 25 dollars per person all including food, alcohol, fruits, tax and tips. It was very reasonable. We took a walk around Hilo bay near the hotel and took pictures.
