Last weekend, Dylan and I finally made it to Volcano National Park at the bottom tip of the big Island. This trip has been on our Hawaii to-do list since before we arrived but we saved it until the very end, although in retrospect I wish we had visited sooner so we could have gone back many more times to further explore. Though we had an amazing day hiking around the Crater Rim Trail, there was so much to see and so many trails we would have loved to explore, including at the Bird Park, which we planned to visit but got rained out before we even had the chance to step out of the car. Oh well.
We arrived at the park around 9am after coffee and pastries and a 1 1/2 hour drive and our first stop was the volcano caldera. This view of the caldera was a ways up from the hike we chose so we drove up and hopped out for a look and a brief walk around the one-room art museum displaying various artist's depictions of the volcano, most notably of Pele, a goddess whose visage is the body of the volcano with the black lava as her hair. The images were beautiful inside and out of the museum and I fell particularly in love with this stunning red volcanic flower found all over the park.
After viewing the massive, steaming caldera we ditched the truck back at the visitor's center and headed out to the Crater rim trail, a 5-6 mile hike that took us through vivid green rainforest flora right down into the middle of a dried lava lake and back up again. It was a fantastic hike with constantly (and quite drastically) changing scenery, temperatures, and species of plant. Luckily, the sun's powerful heat was hidden behind the clouds for most of the day, which is probably quite common at a rainforest park with a continuously smoking volcano. Just a few minutes after we stepped onto the trail we found ourselves in the middle of a magical forest path and I imagined my seven-year-old self frolicking beneath the cover of trees pretending to be a forest nymph. I was immediately transported to the woods of my childhood in southern Vermont which back then felt just as magical as when we happened upon this patch of the trail at Volcano. The day was off to a wonderful start and I could never have guessed just how much more amazing it would get as we continued.
The descent down into the dried lava lake was a piece of cake and Dylan and I chatted about the trees and birds, and how much we love hiking but never seem to get ourselves out to the trails quite enough. Every so often we would come across a sign post identifying the different trees around us, using both the English and Hawaiian names along with a few facts about the plants that made up this particular ecosystem. Finally I was able to put names to some of the species with which we've shared this island for the past four months. I love identifying the flora and fauna of a place and thus far on our trip I have found myself regularly frustrated with my inability to find the resources to help me name the plants and animals we have encountered. I just can't believe there aren't more websites devoted to simply listing the living things of the world with their corresponding images. What happened to our country's love of place? I know I am not the only one who is curious about my surroundings so come out of the wood works all you secret naturalists out there, the internet needs your knowledge!
Anyway, once we reached the floor of the crater we stepped out out of the lush green forest onto black waves of dried lava with only the occasional Ohia Lehua tree, whose delicate red flowers captivated me with their stark contrast against the black lava and glossy green leaves. It is amazing that anything at all can thrive in such a harsh habitat as this, let along do so with such rich beauty.
Down in the lava lake, a 400 ft. descent from the trail in cliff-like fashion, we traipsed across the black crater floor while steam crept out all around us in hot clouds from the vented cracks in the earth leading to the magma deep beneath the surface. Standing over the vents I felt the heat wash over me in clean and refreshing waves, like stepping in and out of a steam room. Down in this black crater completely exposed to the elements I thanked the volcano for clouding out the sun and was happy for the occasional sprinkling of rain. Despite its empty bleakness, we found ourselves fascinated with the crater while at the same time becoming increasingly aware of the power that lay dormant beneath us.
After trekking across the vast black stone lake, which dried with ripples intact, we made our ascent back up to the crater's rim. It was hot and steep but 400 feet past by quickly as we once again found ourselves in awe of the lushness of the rainforest so close to the deep, steaming, empty crater. When we reached the top we found ourselves suddenly and strangely standing in a parking lot filled with rental cars and tour buses. After such dense natural landscape it was bizarre to be thrown back into civilization so abruptly. We snagged ourselves a seat along the path to an old lava tube where we stopped to refill our water bottles and eat the lunch we had packed before we left. We ate our avocado halves, granola bars, and coconut-date bites and watched the herds of tourists pass by in all sorts of outfits unfit for the many trails the park has to offer, glad we had come prepared with our hiking gear. Before heading back to the main trail leading us to the truck, we ventured down below to check out the lava tube, which was pretty neat when you think about the lava that once flowed through, but mostly just looked like your average cave.
Crater Rim is definitely an apt name for this looping trail because we really did walk right along the rim, just a few feet from the 400 ft. cliff drops. It was incredible to look down and see the tops of trees lining the crater before giving way to rippling blackness. We looked down on the vast emptiness below at the tiny ant people crossing the crater floor just as we had done a short while earlier. The views were breath-taking and we couldn't help but stop and admire the landscape with each opening of the trees. Dylan held his breath (and the back of my pack) as I leaned against the railing time and again to catch a glimpse of the steam and rocks below. I just couldn't get enough of the magic this place had to offer at every turn in the trail.
After being rained out of our hike at the bird park, we decided to head back toward home since the weather showed no signs of changing any time soon. Though I was very much looking forward to the bird park, Dylan even bought me a pocket Hawaiian bird guide, I was quickly consoled by the memory of a sign we past in the morning for a black sand beach that we previously didn't think we'd have time to hit before dark. As we began our descent from the 4500ft elevation of the park to the beach, we happened upon a beautiful coffee farm with a majestic monkeypod tree right smack in the middle. For months I've been dying to snag a picture of this beautiful tree so finding one surrounded by coffee plants was very exciting. If only I could have hopped out of the truck and climbed up the branches of the tree that will forever be synonymous with the Big Island of Hawaii for me. I doubt the owners of the coffee farm would have been amused.
So we pressed on and as we neared sea level the clouds stayed behind and the rain ceased to fall, though the cloud cover remained intact. Had we been heading to any other beach I might have been disappointed not to be greeted by the sun, but Punalu'u Beach is lined with fine black sand and lava rocks, not something I'd want to explore at 3pm after the sun's been out all morning. As it was, the cool and salty ocean air was a perfect way to end out hike and the black sands were unlike anything I'd ever seen.
We walked around the beach for a while, admiring the startling contrast of black against the vibrant blues and greens all around us. This beach (on a cool day only) quickly became one of my most favorite spots on the island, for more reasons than one. After getting our fill of the black sand beneath our feet we headed out across the lava rocks in search of nothing in particular and found ourselves captivated by the blue, blue waves crashing all around us. As we stood together breathing in the ocean air, Dylan pulled out a gorgeous pearl ring from his pocket and asked me if I would marry him.
Naturally, I said yes and there we stood looking out at the waves continuing to crash against the rocks as they always have and yet suddenly we were different. I bounced up and down for a while, beaming with excitement and neither of us could stop smiling or hugging each other as the waves continued to lash against the lava. We looked out at the ocean, back at the beach, and up at the volcano behind us reveled in a moment that will be with us forever. I still can't believe that we are here, let alone that we are already preparing to return from this magnificent place in only a few days time.
Wednesday's potluck featured the theme "breakfast for dinner," or as we like to call it, "brinner," and in honor of our engagement our friends at the farm offered a lilikoi (passion fruit) mimosa toast, my favorite. We celebrated together with Dylan's fried chicken and waffles drizzled with Vermont maple syrup sent from our family in the Green Mountains. Jodi tried out a recipe for bacon and egg birds' nests, which were of course delicious along with Brenna's purple sweet potato hash browns and Heather's farm fruit salad of mango & papaya with lime. It was a lovely celebration indeed.
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