This trail is marked many times with warning signs to "keep out", "closed" or "danger, do not enter". There was even a helipad rescue area half way into the hike. But trusting my guidebook that it was open to the public, we ventured on through the rainforest. Roundtrip it was an ankle breaking nine mile hike, up and down old lava, over and under trees with occasional sudden cracks in the earth. We made it to the end, where the forest comes to a screeching halt, and vast fields of lave are all that remain. The Pu'u 'O'o vent is the only active volcano on the Big Island at this time. The lava flows under the earth's surface through multiple lava tubes until reaching the ocean a few miles away. If you plan on hiking this trip, make sure to keep your nose clear. If you smell something funny, it would be the sulphur dioxide from the vent, which spews 1,500 tons of the gas each day. Once in a blue moon, the wind won't be blowing in the normal direction, making the hike a deadly encounter if you continue on.
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From the forest to the lava |
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| Looking at the Pu'u 'O'o vent |
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| Close up of the steam rising |
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| Chillin' on the lava field... we had lunch here |
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| Admiring the "big crack" (not the plumber type) |
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| Photo from another hike, looking back at where we hiked originally. You can see the Pu'u 'O'o vent in the middle-right of the picture, along with the edge of the forest where we came out. |
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