Locator Map: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

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Crater Rim Scenic Drive

This Drive Comes From...

An image of the book: Scenic Highways and Byways

National Geographic's Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways

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At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (+1 808 547 7275. Adm. fee) you can actually witness the force that continues to build the Big Island of Hawaii—volcano power. Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Steam rises from its caldera, and the terrain is a surreal moonscape of craters, cinder cones, and congealed lava flows. You’ll circle Kilauea’s rim, see a rain forest and a desert, and enter the realm of Pele, Hawaii’s volcano goddess. CONTINUED

(Continued From Top)

Begin with the natural history displays at the Kilauea Visitor Center, then cross the road to see the Volcano House (+1 808 967 7321), a historic hotel perched on the rim of the caldera. From its parking lot, walk the 0.3-mile [0.5-kilometer] Earthquake Trail for a view of Kilauea Caldera (2 miles [3.2 kilometers] across, 500 feet [152.4 meters] at its deepest) and Mauna Loa, the world’s most massive mountain, rising 32,000 feet [9,753.6 meters] from seafloor to peak. Mauna Loa erupted in 1984, spewing forth a million cubic yards [764,555 cubic meters] of lava per hour and ultimately covering almost 12,000 [4,856 hectares] acres of land.
Now you’ll drive clockwise around Kilauea’s rim, soon entering a rain forest of ferns and red-blossomed ohia trees. Stop at the Kilauea Iki ("little Kilauea") Crater, which in 1959 was a lake of boiling lava with fountains 1,900 feet [579 meters] high; now you see a steaming black crust. Continue to the Thurston Lava Tube (0.3-mile [0.5-kilometer] loop-trail) to walk through a former conduit for molten rock. Among the nearby ohia trees and tree ferns you may see the apapane, a bright red honeycreeper that feeds on nectar and insects.

Ahead stop at Puu Puai Overlook, where a 0.4-mile [0.6-kilometer] paved walkway leads along the Devastation Trail. (A member of your party can drive 0.7 mile [1.1 kilometers] ahead to the Devastation parking area to pick you up at trail’s end.) This former rain forest area was obliterated by pumice and cinders from Kilauea Iki’s 1959 eruption, but is being recolonized by both native and non-native plants. Ahead, impressively steaming Halemaumau Crater is said to be the home of Pele Honua Mea (Sacred Earth Person). Hawaiians still come to pay homage with dances on the crater’s edge. Above the crater look for white-tailed tropic birds.
After this, you cross old lava flows, see the Kau Desert (created by natural acid rain), and view the Southwest Rift Zone (fractures in the weakened side of the volcano). Stop at the Jaggar Museum (+1 808 967 7643) to look at diverse types of lava and bits of volcanic glass called Pele’s tears. Then you pass the vents of Steaming Bluff and the volcanic gases and colorful rocks of the Sulfur Banks. Your circle concludes back at the Visitor Center.