Volcanoes National Park

I was very excited when I found out the school was giving us a week off in February, which meant travel. To escape the cold of California’s cold and rainy winter this year, we went to the Big Island of Hawaii. It was so nice in the sandy beach, tropical, and ocean part, but when you go up, it’s a different story.

For some of the trip we did sped time down by the nice beaches of Hawaii, but for the other part, we went to Volcanoes National Park. The weather was completely different, cold, super windy, and rainy. I’m glad we brought out ponchos!

Our hotel was literally on top of a 100% active volcano. There is a lake of lava inside Halema‘uma‘u Crater that could explode at any minuet. From our room’s window, we could see the actual glowing lava in the crater, not just the globe, but the lava itself. It was definitely one of the coolest things to see. That’s not the only crater either. There are a couple of craters in the park, some have steam and some do not. We got to see the Kilauea Caldera, Halema’uma’u Crater, and Keanakakoi.

Most people picture Hawaii as sunny, sandy, green plants, and tropical. For the most part, yes, but there is a different side of Hawaii to see in Volcanoes National Park. There are miles and miles and miles of hard, black lava fields and here is it the most windy to where you are about to be blown over. It was amazing to see this part of the island.

Craters and lava aren’t the only things to see. The Crater Rim Drive was spectacular and gorgeous to see all the views from the volcano and there are hiking trails and different sights. A few were the Holei Sea Arch, the Hilina Pali Overlook, Lava Tree Molds, and Ha’akulamanu Sulphur Banks.

Another thing we did, that was close to the ocean, was Panalu’u Beach (Black Sand Beach). It was amazing because we saw roughly 15 turtles just laying in the sand. The black sand was actually formed by lava hitting water and cooling so fast that it explodes, but it’s actually really soft and feels great on your feet.

One more thing we did was explore the lava tubes at Kalahuipua’a Historic Park and Trails andsnorkled in Mauna Lani Bay. You can actually go inside these tunnels and tubes that were formed by air getting trapped between the lava when the volcano explodes. Turns out that lava rocks, although they look heavy, are actually very light and easy to pick up.

I am so happy to have gotten the chance to check out another National Park and this time, a little more remote. My family had a blast together on our second trip to the state of Hawaii.