Today, we spent a second full day in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, mostly exploring the sights along Chain of Craters Road. A light rain was falling this morning but should be clearing up later, so we headed for the far end of the road first and worked our way back.
Chain of Craters Road winds 19 miles and 3,700 feet down the southern slope of Kilauea, beginning near the park's entrance and ending at Holei Sea Arch, on the island's rugged southeast coast. The road used to continue beyond the sea arch to connect with communities further to the east, but over seven miles of roadway now lay buried beneath the lava of a 35-year-long eruption of Kilauea that ended in 2018.
Kealakomo Overlook, along Chain of Craters Road
A quarter mile before the terminus of Chain of Craters Road, we pulled over and walked to the land's edge, where we peered over a cliff to check out some amazing caves worn into the lava by years of wind and waves. The caves were even better than the 90-foot Holei Sea Arch, which was a more distant view than I expected.
Sea caves
Jana and Tom in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Holei Sea Arch
Wind-blown palm trees
Though the sky remained dark, as we'd hoped, the weather was better by the time we started back up Chain of Craters Road. There are lots of worthy stops along the way – overlooks and cinder cones and old sections of road peeking out from vast fields of lava. We took our time and had most the sights to ourselves.
Jagged 'a'a lava (dark black) and smoother pahoehoe lava
Remnant of the old Chain of Craters Road
Mauna Ulu Eruption Trail
Tom conquers a small summit
Pauahi Crater
Back in the main section of the park, we stopped by Uekahuna Overlook for another gander at the Kilauea Caldera. It was much steamier today than it was on Saturday! Then we parked at the Steam Vents and walked across the road to hike the 1.2-mile Sulphur Banks Trail, also known as Ha'akulamanu. Smelly but enjoyable.
Ha'akulamanu
Sulphur Banks
It was a dark and foggy night, so we opted to stay in tonight and eat a second round of emergency rations – cans of ravioli and macaroni and cheese, washed down by some delicious craft beer. Don't judge. We enjoyed it.