Volcano highlights
Trip Start
Nov 27, 2008
1
2
Trip End
Dec 05, 2008
Volcano,
Hawaii,
United States
Saturday, November 29, 2008
You never know how a place is going to look until you see it in person, but we were very pleasantly surprised. The grounds are lovely, our ?hut? was beautiful, and well appointed (cd player, robes, slippers, comfy bed). The sounds of the rainforest were soothing - lots of birds during the day and crickets/frogs at night. But not for the shy - while there are blinds, there doesn't seem a reason to draw them since the rainforest gives you full privacy, and really the effect is so much better when you wake up to nothing but green all around you. Truly a beautiful and restful place. They have a couple detached cabins scattered on the property; ours was originally built as a meditation area for Kathleen, one of the owners. Fittingly, it is called the Sanctuary. Since it wasn't a guest house when it was constructed... it had a main room and a small powder room and that was it. To make it usable for a guest room, Peter built a pavilion with an outdoor shower and a Japanese soaking tub. Yes, outdoors, again not for the shy, but also wasn't really a big problem with shades you could draw and a lot of rainforest around. Maybe the birds were offended, but I don't think we flashed anyone else.
(If you have photosynth installed, and want the 270 view, click here)
We had booked dinner at the Kilauea Lodge - lovely old lodge, food was good but not great, but ambience was very relaxed.
Waking up to the forest and beautifully filtered sunshine, we went on a great hike recommended by the hosts and by "Hawaii Revealed" (the best guidebooks for the Hawaiian islands). We started at the visitor's center, walked over to the Crater Rim trail, followed that to the Thurston Lava tube parking area (~ 1-2 miles?). We've done the tube before (highly recommended, especially if you bring your own lights and do the unlit section past the gate at the end) so we turned towards the Kilauea Iki trail which dips down from the rim into a side crater of the main caldera. Another two miles or so down, across and back up to the Byron Ledge and then back up to the crater. A great day hike, and luckily the crater floor wasn't as hot as it looked (you'd think with all that black you'd roast like a crayon in a Phoenix asphalt lot).
That afternoon around 4pm, we headed towards Hilo to see the lava. Last time we'd visited, it was flowing a mile or so west of Chain of Craters road. This time, it had shifted farther towards the Hilo side, so you can see it enter the sea at the end of county road 130. Good shoes and flashlights are a must, and I wish I'd brought the binoculars as well for some closeups. The real show starts when the sun goes down - the steam cloud lights up with a red glow, and every once in a while you are treated to some lava or fire getting tossed up in the air.
Then it was time for a little Thai in Pahoa and off to bed...
Our hut at the Volcano Rainforest Retreat
the next morning we packed up and headed towards Kona for some beach time. 
