Still pretty hopped up on adrenaline, we browsed the Hilo farmer's market. I was hoping to try some exotic fruits and get my hands on some delicious mountain apples. Alas, while mangoes, starfruit, papayas were aplenty, it wasn't the right season for the more exotic fruits.
We had lunch at Saraya's Kitchen, a weekly pop-up kitchen in the art deco Kress Theatre (arg, I forgot to take pictures). Having been spoiled by Toronto's delicious Indian cuisine, the food tasted a little too bland.
Our bellies full, we met up with S&L for some hiking in the
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Our time on the Big Island was limited but if you have the time, plan to spend two days to fully enjoy the park.
The park is huge and there are plenty of cool trails to choose from.
The park's visitor center offers complementary rainwater. You know me, of course I had to try a sip. If it's good enough for park rangers, it's good enough for me.
Mmmmh... fresh rainwater.
Kailuea Iki Trail
What interesting about this trail is that it goes around and through the crater, which in 1959, was temporarily a lake of lava! The flow of lava from the fissure even caused the pool of lava to ripple, just like a real lake. How cool is that?
The lava repeatedly flowed into and drained out of the crater. And the rapid heating and cooling caused the deep cracks on the crater floor.
Even now, steam is still coming out from cracks in the crater floor.
The dark ring around the crater left by the lava lake.
Not unlike the coffee/tea ring residue inside your best mug.
We took a small detour from the Kailuea Iki trail to check out the
Thurston Lava Tube.
As the outermost layer of a lava river slowly cools and solidifies, a shell is formed. Slowly, the shell thickens as more lava cools, forming a tunnel/tube.
The tube was so much wider than I had imagined. Just think about the size of the lava river needed to produce such a tunnel.
That is a
whole lot of lava.
The walls of the lava tube were strangely smooth to the touch.
Back to the Kailuea Iki trail.
Yay! We finally reached the crater floor.
The entire trail was about 6.4 km and marked by cairns. I think we missed a few cairns (
kind of difficult to spot a pile of rocks when the entire terrain looked like this) and went slightly off trail.
There were some crazy-looking cracks.
Hello! Is anyone down there? Professor Lidenbrock?
By the time we finished the trail, it was getting dark and started to rain. We had our "dinner" in the car - granola bars (again!), mochi and buns (courtesy of S&L).
Jaggar Museum
Before exiting the park, we stopped by the
Jaggar Museum and the
Halema'uma'u crater, one of two lava lakes on Hawaii, and the mythical residence of the volcano goddess Pele.
We couldn't see much of the lava lake from our vantage point except for a reddish glow and an occasional minor flare/eruption. Still, kind of exciting/terrifying to be standing within a kilometer of molten lava. And not just a trickle of lava, but a whole frickin' lakeful!
Volcanic glass fiber - aka "Pele's Hair".
There is also "Pele's Tears", which are obsidian droplets. In Arizona, these volcanic droplets are commonly known as "Apache Tears".
We also saw different types of lava exhibited in the museum.
'A'a (Hawaiian for "stony rough lava") - sharp and jagged, like broken glass. The name is easy enough to remember. If you fall on 'a'a, you're sure to scream out its name.
Pahoehoe (Hawaiian for "smooth, unbroken lava") - smooth and ropey, like taffee or the skin that forms on heated milk.
Kalapana Lava Viewing Area
Even though it was getting late, we were still hoping to see some lava sea entry. Unfortunately, the Kalapana lava viewing area was closed for the night as per the park ranger/security guard(?), "Nothing to see tonight, folks!"
Strangely undeterred (we didn't even know whether there was any lava sea entry at this point), we had two options: wait until the guard is gone for the night or drive to a further point, which involved more hiking. We chose the latter, which, in retrospect, turned out to be the more difficult option (
ain't that just how life goes?)
We drove to a dance club/ice cream parlor(???), parked the car, put on our headlamps and started hiking westward into the darkness with nothing to guide us save a faint glow in the distance (
seemingly only visible to L, who was to be our leader and guide on this grand adventure).
Half an hour into the hike, we ended up really close to the cliff's edge. So close that all I could hear was the ocean waves crashing into the rocks. That was a pretty scary moment.
Shortly after, we crossed path with another group of hikers heading in the opposite direction. Encouraged by their confirmation of sea entry sighting, we pressed on.
Two hours into the hike, I was starting to have serious trepidations. We had hiked across huge cracks, gotten darn close to the ocean, up and down crazy crunchy lava hills, through a small coconut seedling patch, pretty sure trespassed through someone's driveway, but still no lava to be found. Crazy scenarios were starting to play in my head.
Just as I was about suggest we call it a night, I too finally saw the faint red glow ahead. So I downed another granola bar, put on my game face, and matched forward. It was to be another hour of hiking, during which it would start to rain.
As we were hiking up a particularly slopey hill, S&L who were further ahead, gave a muffled yell and rushed back down. The reason? As they were about to jump over a crack, they inadvertently looked down and there it was, lava growing through the crack. I would have screamed too, given the circumstances. I didn't dare venture up the hill but the ground was certainly hot to the touch.
We headed towards the coast, hoping to get a better and safer vantage point.
And there it was - lava sea entry.
Rivers of lava (
not just one! plural!) cascading down the cliffside into the Pacific Ocean. Our cameras did not do it justice. It was something straight out of National Geographic or Discovery.
We just sat there in the rain, marveling at the titanic clash between
ocean and lava as new land is being created before our very eyes.
So incredibly lucky. The direction of the wind was in our favour too, blowing the smoke and vapour away from us.
Then the sky cleared, just for a few minutes, and countless stars appeared. And in that moment, everything was perfect.
We must have stayed there for at least an hour before reluctantly leaving. (
It was already past midnight and we still had a 3-hour return hike. Egads!)
The way back was a little harrowing as well since we didn't know our exact starting point. My brother's GPS watch offered some guidance, but not too much. Amazingly, L was able to somehow navigate us back using the stars. Either that, or he has an uncanny sense of direction.
Never have I (nor likely ever again) been so relieved to see a vending machine (
yay civilization!) and afterwards, our rental car.
Boy, am I ever so glad to see you!
In case you were wondering, this was our lava-viewing hiking route, according to my brother's GPS watch. Altogether, I think we clocked in just shy of 10km, give or take.
O'ahu
Hawaii
I saw and experienced some amazing things on this trip, things I
will remember for the rest of my life.
