Visitor center, museum, Volcano House, lava tube, gift shops, one hike and a drive out Chain of Craters road.  Lava mostly inaccessible without really long hikes, but we were not disappointed.  Awesome park!  Spectacular scenery!  Ocean views worth all of the long hours of travel yesterday.

Kiluea Caldera ~ This is as close as you get.

The picture below is the Kiluea-Iki caldera.  You can see the central fumarole of the park (from the main vent of Mount Kiluea)  beyond the dome on the far side of the caldera.

The only hike Jeremy and I did was the Kiluea-Iki trail.  The pictures above and below were taken from the beginning of the trail and you can see where we go way down on the floor of the caldera!  (See that thin white trail way down at the bottom?)

The trail winds through lush tropical forest to the far end of the caldera, then descends and crosses the floor of the caldera, only to climb back out through tropical forest back on this end.  It was an awesome hike!

Another Planet?

Everyone knows not to take rocks from Madam Pele – BAD mojo – so I just shot this one.  Isn’t it spectacularly gorgeous?  We found it in the caldera with all the other gifts of Pele.

After the hike we saw Thurston Lava Tube and did Chain of Craters Road.

Bear enjoys a crater.

Chain of Craters Road ends at the most incredible shade of blue I have ever seen the ocean wear.

Delicious dinner at Ponds in Hilo.  They have koi as big as my cat.  And delicious lobster and fish.  Yum!  We were starving after the park!