When we got to Hilo, we found that I had booked the rental car for the day before...off to a great start!! They had the car ready for us in no time and we were on our way into Hilo for breakfast before 6:30.
Can you say attitude...are we in trouble or what!! We stopped at Coconut Island on Hilo Bay on our way to breakfast. That is Mauna Kea way back in the distance! Then we headed for Rainbow Falls. We had a great time exploring an incredible banyan tree that is right near the falls.
We could have spent even more time at this banyan! We have been to it before, but spent a ton of time exploring all of its nooks and crannies!
After that we loaded into the van for the hour plus ride to the top of Mauna Kea (13,796 feet above sea level). When measured from its base below the surface of the water where it begins, it is the tallest mountain in the world (33,000 feet) We could see some snow on the top when we landed.
The 'ahinahina plant (silversword) is only found in a few locations...Mauna Kea and Haleakala being the primary ones. This one is just past flowering. They are quite beautiful!
Hiking near the visitor center with some great views.
When we got to the visitor center, the road beyond there was closed. We were planning on staying at the VC for a half hour to an hour to explore and acclimate anyway. While we were exploring the ranger told us that they were planning on opening the road at 11 a.m. The timing was perfect to begin to acclimate to the altitude (9000 ft.). We ate a snack, took a hike, and the headed up the road. The summit area is such a desolate, moonscape sort of place (it reminded us a lot of Haleakala Crater). We figured we would take a 1 mile hike to an alpine lake. Okay, that was pushing it at almost 14,000 ft. We all felt the effects of the altitude and the early morning... they kids collapsed into the car and looked absolutely miserable! So....we drove the last half mile to the actual summit and observatories, took a look around, and started racing back down the mountain to get to lower elevation! Of course the incredibly winding Saddle Road back to Hilo took its toll on Gabbi and Jacqui (mixed with the altitude sickness). We had stopped 2 or 3 times on the way up to let Jacqui throw up from car sickness. On the way down, between Gabbi and Jacqui, we stopped at least 5 times.
The kids did great at the start of the hike! The sun was shining!
The alpine lake was gorgeous! At this point, Danielle and Andy kept going to check out the lake up a little closer and I turned around with the kids.
They were pretty wiped out by the end...it was all we could do to get them back into the car!
After the trip down the mountain, we stopped in Hilo for groceries. Then sat in traffic for almost an hour to travel the 15 miles to our rental house in Pahoa...
It was a gorgeous setting with beautiful flowers, avocados, mosses, and lava tubes!
We spent day 2 exploring Volcano National Park. We did a couple of shorter hikes and the girls picked up Junior Ranger books to work on.
A trail near the visitor center explores steam vents and provides the opportunity to see sulphur crystals like these (yes, it stunk...)
Then, we drove down Chain of Craters Road. We stopped to see some craters from eruptions of many years past.
The more recent lava flows that you drive through are beautiful in a desolate, otherworld kind of way.
When I was here in high school on a bike trip, we rode down chain of craters and I think that if I dig around enough, could find a picture of this sea arch from that trip. At the time, we were able to ride along the road to Pahoa...2 lava flows have covered and closed the road since then (and buries the black sand beach we visited back then.
We hiked to a collection of petroglyphs. The kids really enjoyed trying to figure out what they represented. Some of the ideas that they came up with were really cute! (Of course they are escaping me now...)
For Day 3 we headed to a good snorkeling spot that we had heard of. The a'a (a really sharp type of lava) made walking between pools challenging, but we saw beautiful coral and a fair amount of fish!
We stopped at Lava Tree State Park afterward and saw some great lava formations that occur when the lava flows around a tree and takes its shape before the tree burns. We also saw these enormous leaves!
That evening, we went to see where the current eruption is flowing into the ocean. It was beautiful! Of course pictures are tough...you hike about a half mile to within about a quarter mile of the flow. It is not safe to go any closer...On Day 4, we packed up the car and headed for a hike in Kilauea Iki at the volcano. It is a really run hike that takes you along the bottom of a crater. The kids did a great job hiking (as usual)!
We stopped to see Halema'uma'u erupting. This is where our vog (volcanic smog) comes from when we get Kona (south) winds.
Even though the visitor center was being closed because of air quality (vog)...the park staff took care of inducting 4 new junior rangers to help out!!Then we drove to Kona for a night in a condo there. The kids had a blast in the pool!
Then we went snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay. It is a 2-mile hike to the bay, which provides some of the best snorkeling in the islands! It was not crowded at all and we saw some great fish (including a big ulua that scared Gabbi!!)
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