Locator Map: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

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Kilauea Summit: Crater Rim Drive

This Tour Comes From...

National Geographic's Guide to the State Parks of the United States

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Since Kilauea's summit areas can be rainy and chilly at any time of the year, visitors should be prepared. Bring a windbreaker or jacket and wear long pants. Begin at the Kilauea Visitor Center, where you can get the latest information on park roads and safety precautions. Don't miss the short, stunning film of recent volcanic eruptions. The rustic Volcano House and the Volcano Art Center are just a short stroll. Walk through the lobby of the Volcano house to the rear of the hotel for a first dramatic view across Kilauea Caldera, the great depression that marks the volcanic summit. CONTINUED

(Continued From Top)

A trail wends through the Thurston Lava Tube, where a torrent of lava once rushed.

Photograph © Douglas Peebles/Corbis

After leaving the visitor center, continue clockwise on Crater Rim Drive. For a time, the road traverses rain forest featuring Hawaiian tree ferns that lend the roadsides a prehistoric look. Scenic turnouts begin with a huge crater, Kilauea Iki ("little Kilauea") just east of the main caldera. In 1959 Kilauea Iki erupted in a lava fountain 1,900 feet [579.1 meters] high, a record for Hawaiian volcanism.
Visit the Thurston Lava Tube by taking an easy 15-minute loop trail that starts in lush jungle. The lava tube formed when the exterior of a lava flow cooled to a crust while the still molten interior lava flowed out.
From the Thurston parking area, trails lead down to the floor of Kilauea Iki and along its rim. You can take a loop hike or walk back to Volcano House in 2 to 3 miles [3.2 to 4.8 kilometers]. Either way, you’ll pass dramatic vistas of the Kilauea Caldera, vertical lava cliffs, and verdant rain forest.

Visitors can walk across the lava landscape at Kilauea Iki, a pit crater.

Photograph © Robert Holmes/Corbis

Another option is to hike the popular 4-mile [6.4-kilometer] Kilauea Iki Trail, which winds around the rim and across the interior of a crater that last erupted in 1959. Taking about 2 hours to walk, the trail descends 400 feet [122 meters], passing rain forest and steaming lava flows.
Now continuing back along Crater Rim Drive, look for white-tailed tropicbirds, graceful seabirds with long tail streamers. These ethereal-looking creatures nest on cliffside ledges, often soaring above Kilauea Caldera. With luck, you may spot a nene, an endemic Hawaiian bird probably descended from lost Canada geese that landed here. The state bird of Hawaii, the nene are a federally protected endangered species. Do not feed any nene and take care when driving to avoid them (you’ll spot "nene crossing" road signs).
Devastation Trail is a short (0.5-mile; 0.8-kilometer) but unforgettable walk through remains of a forest killed by falling cinder during the 1959 eruption. The forest is now beginning to recover.
As the road descends along the southwestern side of Kilauea Caldera, you will notice the landscape becoming more arid. In the rain shadow of the summit, the Kau Desert receives about half as much rain as Kilauea Visitor Center. It also bears the brunt of hot winds blowing volcanic fumes and natural acid rain—which stunt plants—down from above.
Ascending again, you reach the Halemaumau Crater Overlook. Walk the short path to look into the fire pit, a favorite abode of Pele, goddess of the volcano. Many native Hawaiians still revere her; throughout the year they chant and dance at the crater’s edge.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of the US Geological Survey, and the small, excellent Jaggar Museum of volcano lore and research are next on your route. Nearing the visitor center once more, you’ll pass fumaroles, or steam vents. These have produced the Sulphur Banks with crystalline deposits of pur e sulphur. From here you can opt for a short hike back toward the visitor center. Alternatively, a 1- to 2-mile [1.6- to 3.2-kilometer] walk along the caldera rim provides fine views.