Recent lava flows stretch out for miles in a rocky wasteland that more closely resembles the Moon than Earth. Huge waves send sea spray dozens of feet into the air along the wild, craggy coastline. Endangered birds waddle across the path on an ascent up the world’s largest single mountain. If the timing is right, catch a natural fireworks show of lava pouring into the ocean or of plumes of molten rock arching above one of the planet’s rare lava lakes.
Two celebrated volcanoes—one of them very tall, the other very active—frame this large national park. From glowing lava flows and earth-shaking tremors to wind, rain, and waves, the geological and meteorological forces that shaped our planet are fully on display on the Big Island. While volcanism rules the day, pockets of rainforest and grassland shelter rare Hawaiian flora and fauna.
“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and caldron bubble.” Shakespeare could just as easily have been describing Hawaiian volcanoes rather than a witch’s brew in Macbeth. No other national park produces so much drama on a regular basis.
Erupting since 1983 and more than 4,000 feet high and still growing, Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It abuts the southeastern slope of the older and much larger Mauna Loa, or “long mountain.” Active for some 700,000 years, Mauna Loa towers 13,677 feet above the sea. Measured from its base 18,000 feet below sea level, it exceeds Mount Everest in height. Mauna Loa's gently sloping bulk—some 19,000 cubic miles in volume—makes it the planet's most massive single mountain.
The national park stretches from sea level to Mauna Loa’s summit. Beyond the end of the road lies Mauna Loa's wilderness area, where backpackers encounter freezing nights and rough lava trails amid volcanic wonders: barren lava twisted into nightmarish shapes, cinder cones, gaping pits. Kilauea, however, provides easy access to a greater variety of scenery and cultural sites.
On the slopes of Kilauea, whose name means “spreading, much spewing,” lush green rainforest borders stark, recent lava flows. This natural laboratory of ecological change displays all stages of forest regeneration—from early regrowth of lichens and ferns to dense forest. The rainforest on the windward side of Kilauea's summit gives way to the stark, windswept Kau Desert on the hot, dry southwestern slope. At the shore, waves create lines of jagged cliffs; periodic eruptions send fresh lava flows to meet the sea amid colossal clouds of steam.
