Big Island Day 3

Today we spent the day in Hilo, and originally planned to finish with this side of the island by hitting Mauna Kea on our way home, but boy did this day take a turn.

We left for Hilo a bit later than planned after getting home late last night watching lava. Our first stop was Rainbow Falls. When the light shines onto the waterfall and there is enough water pouring into the pool, it forms a rainbow into the pool on the waterfall mist. It was a beautiful sunny morning, but there hadn't been a lot of rain recently, so there wasn't enough water to make mist for the sun to shine on. It was still a pretty place, and there was a huge banyan tree nearby.

After Rainbow Falls we went to Boiling Pots up the street. This is a series of small pools that when the water flows heavy and fast, the water looks like its boiling because of the air bubbles in the rock. There's a story about the god Maui boiling the water to trap and defeat a giant lizard that went after his mother. The water, much like at Rainbow Falls from the same water source, wasn't flowing heavy enough to make it look like it was boiling.

We left the river with its boiling pots and waterfalls behind and finished the short drive into Hilo town center. The next stop was at Big Island Candies. It was very different from the last time I was there, and that's probably because of COVID. When we walked in, a woman handed us a couple of samples at the door, but they used to have so many samples all around the shop. It was a little disappointing not to get to try all of the different things, but we would just have to make do. We browsed all of the different items: the cookies, chocolates, and toffees, before deciding to get a small multi-treat box. This way we can try a little bit of a few different things.

Goodies in hand, we made our way to Ken's Pancake House, a little diner down the street. This diner has been around for decades and we came here for breakfast every year we visited the Big Island. Absolutely nothing about the place had changed. I ordered the mac nut waffle and Allan got coconut pancakes. And then the waitress brought one of the best things about Ken's, the homemade syrups: coconut, lilikoi (passionfruit), and guava. It's impossible to just choose one, so I broke my waffle into quarters and chose a different syrup for each. I also tried some of Allan's coconut pancakes. It was all delicious, and we left with very full bellies.

Just around the corner from Ken's (I'm sure you've gathered that Hilo is not a big place) was Ola Brewing, a local brewery. We shared a lilikoi milkshake IPA and a porter before saying goodbye to Hilo and making our way back towards our hotel via Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is the highest elevation mountain, from the seafloor, in the world and because of that it has a stunning sunset. Because of its elevation, you need a 4x4 to access the summit after you stop by the visitor's center on the way up for a bit of acclimatization. We didn't spend as long in Hilo as expected, so we had plenty of time to acclimatize before heading up to the summit.

While we were wandering around in the gift shop, we saw a guide talking about the eruption with another couple. Apparently they also missed the fountaining at the volcano yesterday too. It was only after we got a bit closer and engaged with them further, that we realized their guide was holding up a livestream of the eruption fountaining 1,000 feet in the air! We were shocked, and a little bit disappointed in ourselves for not checking earlier when we were in Hilo, a mere 30 minutes from the national park.

We went back and forth about making our way to the volcanic eruption. We weren't sure if we would make it in time being an hour and 45 minutes away now. We also knew that other people would start heading there which would cause traffic and parking issues. In the end, we decided to go for it; Mauna Kea and its sunset would be here tomorrow, the eruption would not.

We jumped in the car and raced to the national park. About a mile or so away from the entrance, the traffic started. The more time that ticked by, the more nervous we got about missing the fountain. We were anxiously watching the livestream and could see the sky's red glow from the eruption. It was so close, but not close enough. Our patience prevailed and we finally got into the park. We decided not to push our luck with the time and went straight to the viewing area at Volcano House rather than Destruction Trail where we went yesterday.

We luckily managed to find a sort of parking spot on the road, but it was very clear that parking restrictions were not being enforced by the amount of abandoned cars all over the place. I rushed out to find a spot to watch and Allan followed shortly after. The lava was incredible. I mean, we hadn't even seen it at its highest point, but it was still one of the coolest things I've seen. At times you could hear it roaring like a jet out of the earth. Two vents were spewing lava. We were mesmerized by the entire scene. The lava would fly so high, and then would slowly fall down to the earth and join the trail flowing on the crater floor.

We stayed watching the eruption for over an hour and a half. Once it was clearly starting to slow down and one vent appeared to be sputtering out, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. Unfortunately, that meant the long, two and a half hour drive again like last night. We watched the livestream on the way home and definitely arrived and left at a good time. As we drove away from the park, knowing that the first vent had gone out and the second didn't have long left, we passed by a line of cars 5 miles long and felt even more thankful about the decision we made to leave Mauna Kea when we did.

It was another long drive back, but we were still a little bit high on the eruption excitement. It was a definite pinch-me moment. I was happy because I had seen lava flow slow and thick into the ocean which is an experience, and now a huge fountain. I'm a very lucky girl.

When we got back to the hotel, even later than last night, we had a snack (we missed dinner again) and then headed to bed. Allan plans to start a huge two-day hike up Mauna Loa tomorrow, so rest is definitely necessary.Read more