Day 5 - Volcanoes National Park

Today we spent the day at Volcanoes National Park.  We started the day with a 4 mile hike through the rainforest, descending 400 feet (40 story building) to the base of the Kilauea Iki crater floor. 

This was the site of a 1959 eruption which spewed lava 1900 feet high - the highest and hottest eruption in the park.  Now the crater floor is solid rock, so OK to walk on.

The rainforest trail was very easy to follow and only had a few areas where we had to use the handrail.

The hike was pretty good exercise and the footing on the uneven surfaces was a little challenging.  From the top of the hike, the floor looked smooth, but it wasn't very smooth around the edges.

 

The kids were very good on the hike, only getting tired as we hiked back up the mountain out of the crater floor.  They received several compliments from other older hikers on how well they did.

Then we went to the Thurston Lava tube - like a big cave through which lava ran.

The front part of the tube is lit for tourists, but we had headlamps and the kids and Dad went into the second stage of the tube where it was pitch black.  Momma didn't want to go into the second part so she waited for everyone outside.

Then we went back to town to do some laundry at the Tru Value store :) and have some lunch.  We took naps and then went out for dinner.  We were going to go try to spot the lava flowing into the ocean, but Dad wasn't feeling too well (a little heat exhaustion from the hike?), so we didn't do the 50 minute drive each way.  Instead, Bix and Dad went back to see the Kilauea Crater glow (see Day 4) since Bix slept through it the night before.

Tomorrow: on to Hilo.