Want to get up close and personal with one of nature’s most powerful forces? If so, I recommend visiting Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, located on Hawaii’s Big Island. This national park is home to two volcanoes, Maunaloa and Kilauea. Kilauea is considered on of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is a huge park that covers roughly 335,259 acres. There are 150 miles of hiking trails within the park. Not up for a hike? Volcanoes National Park has lava fields as far as the eyes can see, lava tubes worth exploring, scenic drives, and breathtaking views of the volcanoes and surrounding areas.  Getting to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park It is easy to get around the Big Island of Hawaii, after all, there are only a few road options. Getting to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is pretty straight forward. It is a 40-50 minute drive from Hilo along Highway 11. The National Park is further from Kona, it’s 95 miles on Highway 11 and the drive can take anywhere from 2 to 2.5 hours.  From Hilo – Head southwest on Highway 11 for 30 miles From Kona – Head Southwest on Highway 11 for about 95 miles.  The only way to get here is by driving. We rented a car and drove from the town of Hilo. I’m sure there are day trips to stop at Volcanoes National Park, but it is recommended to drive a personal vehicle. This way you can explore the park at your own pace.  About Volcanoes National Park Park Hours Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is open 24/7, year round, to include holidays. The visitors centers and perhaps other amenities within the park do have specific hours. I recommend viewing the National Parks Service website for more information on opening hours and park alerts.  Admission Like other National Parks throughout the United States, there is a fee to enter the park. The fee is usually per vehicle and good for 7 days.  According to the National Park Service Website, below are the entrance fees. $30 for private non-commercial vehicles $25 for motorcycles $15 for bicycles or pedestrians More About Volcanoes National Park Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park became a National Park in 1916. Within the park, you can literally see where new land has been made by lava flow. There are sites within the park like the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs  that show proof of earlier inhabitants utilizing the land, and while exploring the park, visitors can see unique ecosystems. This National Park is unlike any others.  The two volcanoes within the park are Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Kilauea is considered the most active volcano in the world. The last time Mauna Loa erupted was in 1984 and Kilauea erupts constantly.  Mauna Loa means “Long Mountain” in Hawaiian and is considered an active Shield Volcano. Remember from Geology Class? A shield volcano is generally a very large and broad volcano. In a way, they do resemble a shield. The 1984 eruption was so powerful in almost reached the town of Hilo.  Kilauea, considered Earth’s most active volcano last erupted on September 29, 2021. Kilauea has a caldera that was formed when the volcanoes summit collapsed. Kilauea is home to the Hawaiian goddess Pele, who is a goddess of fire and volcanoes.  Things to Do and See at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Stop by the Visitor Center When Visiting Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, make sure to stop by the Kilauea Visitor Center to check out some of the displays, read more into the park, and purchase a souvenir if that is your thing. The visitor center is conveniently located by Crater Rim Drive, and Crater Rim Trail. There are also bathroom facilities on the grounds and plenty of parking spaces available.  Although the National Park is open 24/7, the visitor center is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Walk the Crater Rim Trail to the Overlook There are several trail networks around the park. In fact, there are 150 miles of trails here. You could spend weeks hiking here, but most visitors only come for a day or two. Right off the bat, I recommend doing the Crater Rim Trail. This trail is accessible directly across the street from the Kilauea Visitor Center. It’s an easy paved trail that reaches an overlook where you get great views of the crater at Kilauea. This is also one of the best places to view the lave glow at night. After the overlook, we turned back around toward the visitor center. If you are feeling adventurous, you can continue along the trail or take another path and see where that leads you.  Uekahuna, Kilauea Summit Overlook A quick stop at the overlook by the old Jaggar Museum is kind of the end of the line along the Crater Rim Drive. The road is closed at this point, the museum is closed, but the parking lot is still open. Apparently, the Jaggar Museum used to be well worth a visit. Unfortunately, in 2018 Kilauea erupted and earthquakes damaged the building. From the outside, the museum looks just fine, but the inside is unsafe. Staff managed to save all the important displays within the museum thankfully.  It’s still worth a quick visit to the area to see a different view point of the crater. There is a short trail (Kau Desert Trail) that offers views of the crater. Bring a light jacket, as it was windy and chilly when we were here.  Stop at the Steam Vents A quick stop either before or after the Kilauea Summit Overlook are the steam vents. There was abundant parking at the steam vents with trails all over the place. We walked a short trail and got another glimpse of the crater from here. Walking around the steam vents, there are many areas where you can see the steam rising from the ground. In some places the steam is actually pretty hot. This area consists of primarily low lying shrubs because long roots from trees cannot withstand the heat. Seeing the steam rise from the ground and flow over the cliffs into the crater is truly a site to behold.  Walk Through Thurston Lava Tube Thurston Lava Tube is a 500 year old lava tube located in the middle of a rainforest. There is a parking lot here, it’s a quick hike through the jungle to get to the entrance. The trail makes a nice round trip loop. Since Thurston Lava Tube is located in the rainforest the trail can be wet and slippery, so appropriate clothing and shoe wear is required.  Lava tubes are basically caves that formed due to the cooling of lava flows. For a way better explanation on how lava tubes form and are created, I recommend further reading on Lava Tubes by the National Park Services. Drive the Chain of Craters Road and Stop at some of the old Lava Fields One of my favorite drives within Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is the Chain of Craters Road. This road is nearly 19 miles in length beginning at the Kilauea Visitor Center and ending at the turn around point near the Holei Sea Arch.  There are several stops worth exploring along the Chain of Craters Road. There are many pull offs where you can exit the vehicle and walk on the old lava flow. There are some locations where you can see old lava fields as far as the eye can see.  Hike to the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs One attraction along the Chain of Craters Road that we did was a stop at the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs. My family and I absolutely love archaeology and learning about earlier humans. We were all very interested in seeing the petroglyphs and learning a little bit more of the people that called the area home.  This site has over 23,000 petroglyphs. Most of the petroglyphs appeared to be circles carved in the rocks but there were also more creative and in depth petroglyphs representing humans and other features.  To get to the petroglyphs there is a 1.4 mile roundtrip hike. The hike was mostly flat with rocks but for the most part it was an easy hike. The portion of the hike at the end where the petroglyphs are is on a boardwalk to make sure visitors are preserving the delicate petroglyphs and not destroying them by walking all over the rock face.  View the Lava Glow at Night Perhaps my favorite part of visiting Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park was seeing the lava glow at night. Lava glow is visible from the crater when molten lava is present. I’m still not sure why you can only see the lava at night and not during the day. Either way, it was highly recommended for us to do and we are glad we stayed around until night fall to witness this event.  There are many places to watch the lava glow, but we went back to the overlook along the Crater Rim Trail. We were able to see the lava glow under the starry night sky. The night sky here was stunning, perhaps one of the prettiest and most starry skies I’ve seen.  A tip I was told by a park ranger is to view the lava glow a bit later, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour after sunset. Why? Because many people drive down for the day from Kona. Since Kona is quite a ways away, visitors will only stay at the overlook a few minutes after sunset before packing out. By waiting that extra 30 minutes or longer, you will avoid the crowd since everyone will be making that 2 hour drive back to Kona.  Below are a few close up photos of what the old lava flow looks like today.  **This post contains affiliate links. 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The island of Hawai’i or sometimes referred to as the Big Island is the largest and youngest island in the Hawaiian Islands chain. Since Hawaii the state and the Island of Hawai’i have the same name, Hawai’i with the ‘ okina is the correct form of spelling for the big island and I’ll write it as Hawai’i throughout this post series. I recently had the opportunity to travel to the Island of Hawai’i to visit family and was fascinated by the geography and geology of this complex island.  The Big Island, is appropriately named this because it is twice the size of all other Hawaiian Islands combined. This island was created through volcanic activity. When visiting the island, visitors would be surprised by the diverse landscapes here, from tropical Jungles and dramatic coastlines to tall-grass prairie and tundra.  In this post, you can find information about the Island of Hawai’i to include it’s geology and geography, the history, information on transportation, some of the wildlife we encountered here, and much more!  The Island of Hawai’i The island of Hawai’i is Hawaii’s largest island and considered to be the youngest out of the Hawaiian Island chain. The Big Island is bigger then all other islands combined, twice.   The Big Island of Hawaii was created by volcanic activity. There are two current active volcanos, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Kilauea is considered one of the most active volcanoes on earth. The last eruption on Kilauea was on September 29, 2021. The island is still growing, this can be seen today just driving down the Chain of Craters Rd in Volcanoes National Park. The lava flow continuously creates additional land. According to the National Park, between the years or 1983 and 2002, lava flow added more then 540 acres to the island.  We got to travel to the island of Hawai’i and one of the most astonishing features of the Hawai’i was the different climate zones and landscapes we saw. Hawai’i is home to all but four climate zones. It was truly fascinating driving the island seeing the various climate zones. We saw tropical rainforests near Hilo, tall-grass prairie fields in the northern portions of the islands and tundra while walking on the volcanoes. Both Mauna Loa and Kilauea even receive snowfall during the winter months. Hilo and other areas receive massive amounts of rain annually while other parts of the island receive little to no rain.  If visiting beaches around the Big Island, you might notice that most beaches are covered with black sand. Personally, I’ve never seen black sand and found the beaches to be unique and beautiful. The black sand comes from the active volcanic activity around the island. It is also caused by the weathering and erosion of volcanic rocks on the island.  How Hawai’i Became Populated Polynesians were the first people to arrive to Hawai’i around 300-600 A.D. The Polynesians are said to have arrived from the Marquesas Islands about 2,000 miles away. These Polynesians crossed the Pacific from island to island via canoes. The Polynesians lived near the coasts, settled in the area, and began farming the land. Apparently, later on, other Polynesians primarily from Tahiti settled into the area, pushing the original settlers further to the center of the island. The tribes on Hawai’i were constantly at war with each other. But one major event changed the history of the Island of Hawai’i, that was the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778. Long story short, he wasn’t a god like he made himself out to be. He brought attention to the island to the rest of the world and returned a year later only to be killed by local islanders.  King Kamehameha I I’ve heard of King Kamehameha I, but didn’t know anything about him, I didn’t even realize he was from the Big Island, until our recent travel to the Island of Hawai’i. King Kamehameha I also known as Kamehameha the Great, was a warrior and leader who is famous for his achievement of uniting the islands into a Kingdom. The history of King Kamehameha I and the unification of the Hawaiian Islands is quite complex, feel free to read more on Kamehameha the Great on the Go Hawaii website.  Why We Decided to Travel to the Island of Hawai’i Being in Japan since 2019, we got rather unlucky with Covid-19 and couldn’t travel outside the country. Unfortunately, this also meant we couldn’t visit friends or family. As restrictions started to lessen in 2022, and we were able to travel to the United States, both Jill and I contacted our parents to meet halfway in Hawaii. In theory, it was perfect. I have yet to visit Hawaii and none of us had to travel 20+ hours to mainland America or Japan.  We decided on the Big Island, simply because Japan still required a Negative Covid test to come back. So we decided the Big Island had the most nature and least amount of people, getting Covid seemed less likely here.  Transportation – How to Get Here and Get Around the Island Flying to Kona Hawai’i has two airports, Kona International Airport and Hilo International Airport. Kona is the larger hub and far busier. Kona Airport has direct flights from 13 cities to include Tokyo. Originally, we had a direct flight from Haneda, Tokyo to Kona, Hawaii. This flight was cancelled and we had to rebook and route from Haneda to Honolulu and then to Kona.  All of our bookings were done through Hawaiian Airlines. Between Haneda and Honolulu we took a partner flight with JAL and a Hawaiian Airline flight between Honolulu and Kona.  We had a rather unpleasant experience with Hawaiian Airlines. First, they cancelled our flight months ago. They never offered an alternative, instead we had to reach out to them to resolve the issue. Then once departing Kona, the airline lost our luggage. It’s a long story, but the individual at the check in counter had one job and epically failed! Most employees at Hawaiian Airlines were rude and unhelpful. It wasn’t until we arrived in Haneda where employees from JAL actually helped us and managed to track and deliver our luggage. I realized now, that when it comes U.S. airline companies, you as a customer has to go our of your way to get stuff done. In Japan, it is the exact opposite, their employees go our of their way to offer assistance and resolve the issue. Because of the lack of customer service and overall experience with Hawaiian Airlines, I cannot recommend them as an airline company and will avoid booking with them at all costs.  Renting a Car The Island of Hawai’i is huge, there is no real public transportation, so renting a car is necessary and highly recommended.  Like most airports, there are several options for rental car companies located at the airport. There is a free shuttle bus service that picks visitors up from the airport to the car rental area. I’m not sure how it came about but we booked a van through Dollar Car Rental.  Dollar Car Rental had cheap options. You can find all the big name companies (Alamo, Enterprise, Hertz, etc..) here as well. You get what you pay for. Since Dollar Car Rental was cheaper then other companies, it showed. My dad and I waited for our car at the rental place for nearly two hours. Keep in mind, we made a reservation months in advance. There was a huge line of people waiting for their vehicles. Apparently it’s common with Dollar Car Rental. The van we rented was just alright, it lacked power and had horrible gas mileage. Again, based on our experience, I can’t recommend Dollar Car Rental at Kona International. Spend the extra money and go with a reputable company.  Rental companies aside, visitors can rent a wide variety of vehicle types from convertible mustangs to 4×4 Jeep Wranglers. We had 6 people in our party and didn’t plan on off-roading so we decided on renting a van.  The Towns of Hilo and Kona The two main cities on the Big Island are Hilo and Kona. Hilo is located on the east side of the island while Kona is situated on the opposite side of the Big Island. Both cities are drastically different. Visitors go to Hilo to experience a more local vibe while Kona provides more of a touristy and party atmosphere.  Hilo Hilo is located on the east side of Hawai’i. Hilo is a great place to stay because it’s a nice base if exploring the eastern side of the island plus it is much closer to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park then Kona is.  Hilo has a nice downtown area full of restaurants and cute shops. One of the most recommended things to do in Hilo is visiting the local farmers market. Visitors coming to Hilo can check out some of the nearby waterfalls, lava tubes, black sand beaches, and even snorkel at areas like Richardson’s Ocean Park.  Kona Kailua Kona or simply Kona is the main city on Hawai’i, located on the western side of the Big Island. Kona was home to King Kamehameha I and other rulers due to its environment, location, and ideal weather. Kona is also known for coffee, many coffee farms are found in and around Kona.  Today, Kona reminds me of a party city and your typical island touristy destination with cheesy souvenir shops, resorts, expensive seafood restaurants, and luaus.  The Remarkable Wildlife We Encountered The wildlife on the Island of Hawai’i was fascinating. I saw a few animals, I’ve never seen before and was able to photograph. One of the animals I was most exited about seeing was the Nene which is a Hawaiian Goose. Below are a few of the animals we encountered while exploring the Big Island.  Goats – We saw goats everywhere, especially along Saddle Road (Route 200) from Kona to Hilo. The goats are feral and were brought to the island by Captain James Cook. With no predators, the goats thrived and can still be seen grazing grass all over the island including the lava fields and even at higher elevations on the mountain slopes. We never stopped along the highway to take photos of the goats, but they are the same types you would see anywhere else.  Mongoose – The mongoose caught me by surprise. I see mongoose in Okinawa. They were released in Okinawa to control the Habu population. That ended up being a disaster, but that is a story in itself for a different time. I am familiar with what mongoose looked like and couldn’t believe my eyes when first seeing them in Hawaii. Sure enough, like in Okinawa, the mongoose were brought to the island in 1883 from India in hopes of controlling rat populations in and around the sugar plantations. The introduction of species is rarely a good idea. The mongoose had no predators and spread rapidly throughout the island. The mongoose would prey on nesting birds, eat their eggs, and put other native wildlife at risk. These little guys are near impossible to photograph, so unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of them.  Feral Pigs Like the goats, pigs were also brought to Hawai’i by humans originally as a food source. These pigs are feral, found throughout the island, and cause damage to local flora and fauna. Where we stayed in Hilo, every morning in the same spot we saw a sow and her six youngins. Of course, they were tearing through some ones lawn.  Dogs I had to add dogs to the list primarily because I saw two mastiffs an English Mastiff and Dogue de Bordeaux (French Mastiff) that are worth mentioning.  While on our road trip to Waipi’o Valley we stumbled upon Laupahoehoe Beach Park. This area has a nice campground and stunning views of the ocean. While walking around we spotted a dog, a huge dog! He was an English Mastiff, we were sure he belonged to