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Published: June 22nd 2009
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Welcome to the AMAZING Island of Hawai'i or The Big Island
My friend Krista and I had a fantastic adventure that started at 4 am on Sunday morning... The things we do to travel to paradise! After a 45 minute flight from Honolulu to Hilo, we picked up our jeep and were on our way at 7am.. hehe.
First thing on our list was to go waterfall chasing. We set my Garmin (new Garth) to Rainbow Falls and we were off... The city of Hilo has about 40,000 residents, but you would never know it! It's pretty, spread out, and has a hometown feeling.
Rainbow Falls is located off Rainbow Drive in Hilo. The walk to the lookout was very short, about 50 feet only. Very beautiful!
The Boiling Pots are just East of the Rainbow Falls on the Wailuku River. The water is rushed through boulders before heading downstream a few miles to the falls. So we asked Garth where to go next... he said the Kulaniapia Falls were only 2 miles away, Great! Well 2 miles turned into 10 miles and 20 minutes later because we had to go around the river... fun times! Boy was
it worth the drive through the coffee bean trees and winding one car roads. When we got there, we had a surprise. The only thing there was a luxury inn... it was very beautiful and peaceful. If you ever want a zenlike place in the middle of bamboo forests and lush gardens.
Akaka Falls State Park was next on our list... after a beautiful drive up the coast in our jeep we were greeted by all the tourists.. hehe. Well, including us. This was my favorite of the waterfalls. The free-falling 'Akaka Falls plunges 442 feet into a stream-eroded gorge. It's amazing sight and the vivid colors of the foliage are hard to capture in photos. A short walk down a dirt path with a number of stairs are the cascading Kahuna Falls. Much smaller than the Akaka Falls, but still beautiful.
Next stop was the Hilo Tropical Garden is a spectacular Garden in a Valley on the Ocean - acclaimed as one of the most beautiful areas in all Hawaii. In this garden valley, nature trails meander through a true tropical rainforest, crossing bubbling streams, passing several beautiful waterfalls and the exciting ocean vistas along the rugged
Pacific coast. The Garden displays a vast variety of palms, heliconias, gingers, bromeliads, and hundreds of other rare and exotic plants from all parts of the tropical world - presently more than 2,000 species.
After checking into our hotel, we traveled 45 minutes to the anticipated Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was only about a 45 minute drive to the visitor center of the park. When we go there, we learned that the southern trails in the park were closed due to high levels of sulfur in the air. First stop was the steam vents... When a sign says "Hot"... it means "Do not touch." Man were those things giving off some heat! Next was Jagger Museum where you can go to the lookout and see the craters and look at the new activity in the volcano. You can't see any lava here, but it's still amazing to see the size of the volcano!! Inside the museum is where they are doing a lot of the research on the volcano and it's activity. Boy has it been active lately! Next stop was the Lava Tube... after a little hike, this huge tunnel appears. It's really a cool site to
see where lava flowed through to create this tunnel. This one was maybe 200 yards long. There are many you can go through, you just need a flashlight. Our next stop was touring the lava fields... we just cruised down the road and saw where the different lava fields formed and the destruction it left. The signs tell you what years the lava traveled through. Pretty neat.
Our Last stop of the day was about a 45 minute drive from the national part down highway 130 to a private property to see the lava at night. Despite all the signs saying private property, you drive through and the people park you. You need a flashlight and sneakers! After a little hike, we sat on some pretty jagged lava rock (looks so smooth, but its sharp!) and waited for the show to begin. Wow, was it worth the wait. It was awesome to see the lava explode out of the crater and into the ocean. It was pitch black outside so you could really see how red and orange the lava was. I wish my camera had a better zoom and faster shutter speed to capture how awesome of a
site it is! After a bit it was time to venture back to the Jeep. Krista and I enjoyed the Jeep ride over the lava on the way out... Nothing like 4 wheeling over lava!! And back the hotel we went so we could get ready for our flight in the morning to Kauai...
Hilo Tropical Garden
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
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