Day 17-Volcanoes National Park

We stopped again at Black Sand beach but no turtles so we drove on down the road an hour to Volcanoes National Park. The temperature dropped ten degrees as we climbed a couple thousand feet. This part of the island is very undeveloped, no towns or services. We got an overview of the park from the rangers, no movie because their theater is being renovated. This is the volcano that erupted in 2018, spilling out ten years worth of lava in three months, according to the ranger. Then we set off to walk past steam vents, holes in the ground that let steam escape from the heat of the magma deep below. Part of the walk was a boardwalk, and the trail led us to the room of the volcano crater, whu h more than doubled in size after the last eruption. The walk back to the visitor center was through tropical rain forest growth. We had a picnic lunch again abs then set off to see the Thurston lava tube, formed by hot lava flowing beneath hardened lava, it is like a cave. We came out the end and got another nice walk through the rain forest, and then an overlook to another smaller crater next to the big one. It was all really interesting. Then we headed to Hilo, 30 minutes away, to kill the rest of the day, as we had a special airport pick up at 9:30pm. We did a little retail therapy, then had dinner at a local grill and walked along the oceanfront park in the dark. Tried to find a geocache in the dark without success, maybe we will look again on Sunday.
Finally it was time to head to the airport, where we greeted Andrew and Dani at the airport with leis that I made. Then it was an hour and a half drive in total darkness back to the air bnb for our last night there.Read more