The park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world’s most massive shield volcano.
Established: August 1, 1916
Size: 325,605 acres
Rank in Size: 24
# Visitors in 2018: 1,116,891
On May 11, 2018, the park was closed to the public in the Kīlauea volcano summit area, including the visitor center and park headquarters, due to explosions and toxic ash clouds from Halema’uma’u, as well as earthquakes and road damage. Portions of the park, including the visitor center, reopened to the public on September 22, 2018. As of 2019, most of the park is open; however, some road segments and trails, the Thurston Lava Tube, and the Jaggar Museum remain closed to visitors. (Source: Wikipedia)
(Visited October 2019) My husband and I along with 2 of our good friends visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park after our visit to American Samoa and Haleakala. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, we visited just 1 year after the park reopened after the devastating eruption of 2018. While we had hoped to see the active lava flows, and to be able to photograph the iconic glowing flows and spurts at night, we instead found ourselves in total awe of the force and resilience of nature. We heard all about the eruption and saw the photos and videos on the news, but it took on a whole new meaning seeing it in person. It was extremely sobering and awe inspiring to witness both the destruction and creation of land; Kīlauea’s caldera had dropped approximately 1,640 feet and 875 new acres of land were created. There were no reported deaths, although 700 homes were destroyed. We were able to tour much of the area within and outside of the park, on foot, by car, and by helicopter.
We arrived at the Kilauea Visitor Center late in the day, having only enough time to skim the displays and watch a short movie. We then went to check in at Volcano House and took a short hike. We hiked to the steam vents along Crater Rim Trail. The light at dusk made for surreal photos.
The next morning, we got up early to capture some more of the Steam Vent area in the early light before meeting up with our private guide for the day. We really enjoyed the quiet morning with the beautiful light, allowing us to capture some really wonderful images, from the grand vistas of the caldera to the details of resilient nature such as the wild orchids and fiddleheads, to the glimpses into the local culture such as the offerings to Pele.
After returning to the lodge, we met up with our friends and our guide from Ecoguides. Erik Storm is a Volcanologist who was born and raised in Hawaii. He is extremely knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics including Geology, Volcanoes, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, flora, fauna, Hawaiian history, language and culture. He was a fantastic guide! Our first stop was the Sulphur Banks and Steam Vents area.
We then took a drive down Chain of Craters Road, making quick stops at Kilauea Iki Crater and Pu’u Pua’i Overlook looking down on Devastation Trail. We took a fairly long hike on the Mauna Ulu Lava Shield (1969 lava flow). Our guide showed us a variety of volcanic formations, explaining the geology of each; one of the most fascinating being the lava tree molds; a formation resulting from the envelopment of a tree by a lava flow. Another interesting one was Reticulite, basaltic pumice in which nearly all cell walls of gas bubbles have burst. It was also amazing to see how resilient life is among the vast volcanic flows.
Continuing down Chain of Craters Road, we stopped for a short hike in another area of the East Rift Zone. This looked entirely different from the Mauna Ulu Lava Shield in that it looked like a dune field, again with life finding a way to flourish.
At the end of Chain of Craters Road, we saw a beautiful rugged coastline and the iconic Holei Sea Arch.
The next day, we drove to Hilo to catch a helicopter tour over the park and surrounding area. We were a bit disappointed not to be able to fly directly over Kilauea Caldera; not sure if they aren’t allowed to or it was too socked in. Despite that, we had an amazing tour. It gave us an entirely different perspective of the vast area covered by lava flows from different time periods. We flew very close to Pu’u O’o Crater and saw a great view of the new black sand beach that was formed during the 2018 eruption at Isaac Hale Beach Park.
We spent a few days in Hilo visiting friends and seeing the sights around there. Our friends drove us down into the Puna District to see the damage done to the residential areas by the 2018 Eruption. While this area is not in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park boundaries per se, it is hard not to include it in my story of our visit here. The eruption effected the entire area, destroying so much and yet creating new land. It is awe inspiring to think that we have been able to witness the creation of new land in a very short timeframe.
We were nearing the end of our time in Hawaii and had to start our drive back to Kona to catch our flight home a few days later. We decided to visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park one more time before saying goodbye. We drove as much of the Crater Rim Drive as we could and then parked the car and walked again as far as allowed (another mile or so). It was a gorgeous day and we were able to get a much better view of the caldera than we did from the Crater Rim Trail near Volcano House a few days prior. The damage caused to the road was substantial. We were also able to see across to the other side where the Jaggar Museum was teetering on the edge… no wonder it was closed!
Wow!! What an amazing visit! Hawaii Volcanoes National Park does not have the jaw-dropping beauty of many of the parks we have visited, but it more than made up for that with its geological wonders!!