Day 14: Volcano National Park Pt.2 
(Pt 1 for Andrew, though)

Having missed the organised tour to the Volcano National Park, I was keen to get there. An early-ish start got us to the visitor centre at a reasonable time, where we had a look round and bought a couple of things (and used the rest rooms).

First stop was the Kilauea Iki Overlook - A view down into the crater where we could see the feint markings of the trail we are here to follow.

Kilauea Iki Trail

It starts by dressing up in walking shoes and deciding what else to wear - the weather looks promising so waterproofs aren't needed. 
The trail starts with the zig zag path down the side of the crater before opening out on the expanse that is the crater surface - awesome. We have a slow walk across the crater stopping at cracks in the surface to look at the steam seeping through to the surface. Two-thirds across there is a rockier area from more recent (~1982) eruptions.
The route up the other side is a bit of a cheat - STEPS - this means we get up a lot quicker than we got down.
The rest of the trail is just making our way around the rim, stopping at every viewpoint to appreciate the views befor getting back to the car, 2 hours and 4 miles later.

Crater Rim Drive
 and Chain of Craters Road

We then follow the crater rim:

• Thurston Lava Tube - An enormous cave and former route of flowing lava
• Devastation Trail - Val had walked this earlier so Andrew was dropped of at one end and picked up at the other. It starts at Kilauea Iki overlook number two.
• Halema'uma'u views - Long views to this crater across lava fields of varying ages.
• SW Rift Zone - A big gap in the landscape where the earth has been torn apart.
• Jagger Observatory - Observing earthquakes and eruptions.
• Chain of Craters Road stopping at:
  • Puhimau Crater
  • Pauhalin Crater 
  • Several other craters
• Petroglyphs - Vandalism by the natives of 100 years ago become tourist attractions - it's a bit of a walk to these and the weather has turned cool and rainy, but we still go. They are protected by a raised wooden walkway, but the engravings of stick men and circles are somehow still fasinating.

The final bit of the day is at the end of the road and it is also the end of the daylight. In the twilight we are able to look down the coast to the red glow of the lava flowing into the sea. Looking up the hill it is also possible to see glowing on the hillside - this may be surface flows or gaps in the lava tubes. We think surface flows because it was not visible on vals first trip here.
There are no organised hikes to the outflow so we decide that it would not be a good idea to trek there alone.

Heading back we have a steady drive to the Hilo via the Volcano House Hotel toilets.

Goto Day 15: Hilo to Kona

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