Heading South from Captain Cook & Kona we arrived at the Volcano National Park at the South Eastern corner of the Big Island.
We began by hiking the KÄ«lauea Iki Trail, which starts in the rainforest along the crater’s rim.
You can see the steam coming off lava in the distance.
Descending into the crater floor. At spots steam is coming of the gaps in the ground.
Hiking through NÄhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) where slower lava cools on the outside and forms a channel for the hot flowing lava.
Driving further along the Chain of Craters Road for 20 miles, which ends near the sea.
We make frequent stops to see the dynamic landscape affected by the lava flow.
At the end of the road is where a lava flow crossed the road in 2003.
Some incredible details to see how the lava cools.
All the different types of minerals and colors.
Taking a 1 mile trek in-land, we were able to see the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs carved into the tough lava rocks.
The area around the petroglyph were elevated to protect the area from further wear.
It was pilgrimage to travel from far and wide and place the newborn umbilical cord into the carved circles to ask for blessings.
It is hard to imagine carving into the hard lavas with just their hands and simple tools.
The archaeological site of Pu`u Loa contains over 23,000 petroglyph images.
Holei Sea Arch near the end of Chain of Craters Road. The sea batters the coast continually and cause some of the rocks to erode and form the arch.
Taking in the view along the way to catch the sunset.
After nightfall, it was drizzling and visibility was rather poor but we still decided to go see the lava ‘glow’.
We were lucky that after waiting for about 10 minutes the sky started to clear and we could see the steam rising from the crater! Most amazing was being able to see the orange glow from the lava lighting up the sky.
