Put top down and then headed south on highway 11 toward Hawaii Volcano's National Park.
The highway was a narrow two lane with a lot of hills and curves. Slow going.
Stopped at an overlook of a huge lava flow for some photos.
Turned off the highway and took a small two lane toward South Point. Road became a 1 lane and also rough. Passed old wind turbine farm, was odd seeing them all rusted and broken. Only 1 was rotating and probably because its lock down was broken.
A newer set of turbines was closer to the coast and with the high winds were spinning good.
Reached the point which is the farthest south point in the United States. Took left fork in road along rough path. Eventually stopped and hiked 1/2 mile to coast.
Spent some time among rocks watching larger waves come in and exploring the tidal pools in the rocks. (All rocks are lava of course).
Went back to car and drove back to fork. Took right and it ended at a rough area near a native wall. Hiked down to coast which was a 20+ foot cliff. Lots of people fishing off the cliff, boats along the cliff and gear for hauling stuff from boats to top of cliff. Water was very blue here and could see down a ways.
Walked along cliff till reached low point and went to waters edge. Passed headland light pole marker. Watched more larger waves come in and then hiked back.
Drove back to highway and continued toward park. Drove up to crater and entered park. (Free today) [2019 NOTE: Each year the National Park Service has a select few days where many parks offer free admission, we lucked out and this was one of those days.]
Stopped at visitor center and got some basic information. Walked over to Volcano House and ate lunch at cafeteria. Had 2 hot dogs, chips and soda. Also ate one of Harry's hot dogs since he couldn't.
Went out on edge overlook of Kilauea crater and watched gas plume erupting.
Went back to car and drove west on Crater Drive to the overlook area. Hiked along rim and took more photos of vent gasses rising.
Drove back past visitor center and down the side of crater. Stopped at Thurston Lave Tube. Harry stayed in car. By now it was raining lightly and we had to put top back up.
Trail to lave tube was steep and surrounded by rain forest. Tube was large and about 1/4 mile long.
At end there was a section that was left natural without lighting. Explored a bit of it using camera flash. [2019 NOTE: Manually setting off flash to light up tube. None of the photos I tried would work though, too dark to focus]
Went out exit stairs and hiked along forest back to car.
Drove down to Chain of Craters Road. Headed down road, stopped at a huge lava flow from Mauna Loa? Continued down still in fog and rain. View points over coast were hazy, and also in area where gas was blowing from the main vent. [2019 NOTE: The current active vent at this time was east of the park. On this day the winds were blowing much of the gas and fumes across the park, so areas would get hazy and it was not advisable to stay in these areas or breath the air in them. We kept windows up most of the trip and quickly drove through these short areas.]
Finally reached the shoreline and stopped at the end lot hear Holei sea arch.
Hiked down and photographed arch. Then while harry took forever to do the same I hiked down the road about a mile to where the lava had flowed over. [2019 NOTE: While we did not know it at the time, Harry was starting to show some negative health issues from his condition which was sapping all his strength and energy.]
Hiked among lava field for awhile taking photos of various rocks and signs sticking up. Hiked as close to edge as I could get and photographed water crashing on cliff.
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| You sure about that? |
Hiked back and we drove back up the road. Stopped at one overlook for some quick photos and then went on to the main park area. Rain was still coming down.
Stopped again at visitor center and went to gift shop at Volcano House to buy water. Walked around grounds and checked out a steam vent nearby.
Left park and headed toward Hilo. Needed to find a gas station and fill up before going down highway to coast where lava flows into sea.
Stopped for gas and bought some ice tea in a small town near the highway junction.
Headed south and got to the end of the road just after opening times.
They had built a makeshift road across the lava flow, very rough, narrow and hilly. It was interspersed with sections of the old highway that had been spared.
Finally reached an area where there was a large parking lot. They had us back into the spots facing the way out, probably to reduce traffic issues after dark and to speed up any evacuation.
Hiked down road to lava flow and then followed 3/4 mile trail to view area.
Could see the huge steam plumes from where the lava flowed into the sea. One of them was close enough to see the water and some darker smoke. Stood and watched for a bit over an hour. Saw a few bursts of molten lava come up, though not sure I caught them with the camera. [2019 NOTE: A few came out good.]
Just after the sun had set I hiked back and could see small lava glows up along the side of mountain. Found Harry at car.
Drove out of view area, which was not easy in the dark on those narrow paths over lava with oncoming cars!
Headed up highway and it soon started to rain. This kept up for most of the trip in the southern half of the island.
Driving at night is a bit strange. Roads are hills and curves and very few lights anywhere. Only when going into a town does any view past the road edge occur.
Was a 3 hour drive back to Kona. Arrived at hotel and then walked down to shore to see about food, but everything was closed. Never seen a city shutdown so early, and on a Saturday night as well.
Annoyed at not getting food, so just went to bed when back at room.
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