We started our last day on the big island in Volcanoes National Park. We started at the Kilauea Iki crater. This is a pit crater next to the main caldera of Kilauea. The last eruption here was in late 1959. You can hike across the caldera floor and apparently, some areas are hot to the touch. We decided to pass on that.

We drove the Chain of Craters Road, making stops along the way. There are a bunch of craters and lava fields along here, hence the name.

First stop was the Pauahi Crater, which means destroyed by fire. The most recent eruptions here were in 1973 (twice) and in 1979. I snapped a picture of a metrosideros polymorpha, or the ōhiʻa lehua. This is a tree/shrub that is able to grow on lava, so they are often some of the very first plants to take up residence on the lava fields. They have red flowers (sometimes yellow), which make them quite distinctive. 

Another stop was the Mauna ulu eruption fissure and field. This is all from an eruption that lasted from 1969-1974. Some of the lava here is iridescent, I assume from the mineral deposits in the lava. It is really pretty. 

Along the way, Paul made a new friend: a nene. Nene are Hawaiian geese, the state bird here. While they can fly, they mostly walk, making them quite a sight, waddling around. They have a super soft goose honk, almost a whisper. This one lost interest in his conversation with Paul when it did not lead to snacks. We were trying to follow the state guidelines and not feed them.

We decided to make the walk out over a lava field to see another set of petroglyphs. This was the Pu’u loa petroglyphs. This has over 23,000 glyphs, most of them cupules or dots with many others being circles. There is a theory that these are documentations of births.

We made it all the way to the end of the road (as it exists today—thanks to the volcano) and ate a picnic lunch amidst sprinkles. It had been lightly raining on and off all day. We then walked a bit further to see the hōlei sea arch before making the return trip on the Chain of Craters Road.

We had a nice sunset dinner at a beachside restaurant, allowing me to get some good pictures of our last sunset on the big island.