Volcano
Yesterday I met this couple at the Hilo Bay Hostel and they were thinking of going to the Kilauea volcano today. So this morning I got up early again and went over to the hostel to meet them. They had a van and actually found 2 more people to join the tour, an American girl who just arrived in Hawaii after sailing here from Tahiti and an older Polish guy who is usually working in Canada and has been in Hawaii for 6 weeks already.
Usually, the best time to see the lava flows in Volcanoes National Park is around sunset or dawn, because it's darker then. But we went during the day...
We drove out there and had a look at a few nice spots before driving down to the coast. That's were the current lava flows are. The road just end there after a while as it was swallowed by the lava a while ago. From there on you have to hike a few miles over the lava to see the current flows. We started hiking a bit after 11 and it took us quite some time. It was raining again and only stopped for some time during the afternoon. So at least we didn't have to worry about the sun and dehydration too much. It looks really alien in the lava fields. There's nothing but stone, a real wasteland. We wanted to try to reach the spot where the lava flows into the sea, but that was just too far away in the end. After hiking for 2-3 hours over the tricky terrain it began to get warmer and you could smell sulfur. After a while we also spotted a few glows in some cracks. Unfortunately, that was all we managed to see in the end. We met a few people on the hike who told us that you couldn't really see very much at the spot where the lave flows into the ocean, so we made our way back at that time. We were pretty exhausted. In the end, we were hiking for 5 hours what was supposed to be only 2 1/2 miles. It was still pretty cool and fun, but I would have liked to see the actual flows.
On the way back to Hilo we all fell asleep (apart from the driver) because we were just so exhausted. Back at the hostel the Polish guy invited us all to several cases of beer. I ended up having 4 Guinness and was a but drunk when I finally went back to the house. I had planned to be back there earlier since the people there were killing their chicken and had a party. I missed the killing, but had some of the chicken for dinner. I didn't want to have any more beers during the party and was pretty sleepy as well, but it was still fun. I really like all of the people in the house, they were so nice to me!
Usually, the best time to see the lava flows in Volcanoes National Park is around sunset or dawn, because it's darker then. But we went during the day...
We drove out there and had a look at a few nice spots before driving down to the coast. That's were the current lava flows are. The road just end there after a while as it was swallowed by the lava a while ago. From there on you have to hike a few miles over the lava to see the current flows. We started hiking a bit after 11 and it took us quite some time. It was raining again and only stopped for some time during the afternoon. So at least we didn't have to worry about the sun and dehydration too much. It looks really alien in the lava fields. There's nothing but stone, a real wasteland. We wanted to try to reach the spot where the lava flows into the sea, but that was just too far away in the end. After hiking for 2-3 hours over the tricky terrain it began to get warmer and you could smell sulfur. After a while we also spotted a few glows in some cracks. Unfortunately, that was all we managed to see in the end. We met a few people on the hike who told us that you couldn't really see very much at the spot where the lave flows into the ocean, so we made our way back at that time. We were pretty exhausted. In the end, we were hiking for 5 hours what was supposed to be only 2 1/2 miles. It was still pretty cool and fun, but I would have liked to see the actual flows.
On the way back to Hilo we all fell asleep (apart from the driver) because we were just so exhausted. Back at the hostel the Polish guy invited us all to several cases of beer. I ended up having 4 Guinness and was a but drunk when I finally went back to the house. I had planned to be back there earlier since the people there were killing their chicken and had a party. I missed the killing, but had some of the chicken for dinner. I didn't want to have any more beers during the party and was pretty sleepy as well, but it was still fun. I really like all of the people in the house, they were so nice to me!
posted by Stephan Wolschon at 09:42
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