hiking
big island
1.
Kaumana Caves
hilo | 1881 lava-tube
This lava-tube was only a 10 min drive out from Hilo. We parked and it was absolutely pouring down rain. It was the trippiest thing to walk into the cave knowing that it was built from the Mauna Loa Volcano in 1881. We walked back towards absolute darkness only seeing what our flashlights could light up. Our headlamps were perfect in these moments.
2.
Waipi'o Valley Trail
WAIPI'O VALLEY
From start to end, this trail felt like a dream and a movie, and bittersweet reality all at once. The trail takes you down into Waipi'o valley pass homes, incredible trees, and the occasional view of a huge waterfall in the distance. It brought us over super cold water and rocks we had to take off our shoes to cross and then at the very end on our way back to the end we caught word that horses were running along the beach. The sun was setting so we got to running, and for what felt like another mile long we ran to the beach to catch the very end of the sunset. Took photos in the reflections of the water spilling on to the sand from the sea. Absolute magic.
3.
Captain Cook Monument Trail
Napoopoo rd | captain cook
This was one of those hikes that we planned to be one thing, and turned into an absolute surprise and adventure. We originally set out to hike to the Captain James Cook Monument, and still unsure of where we landed apart from it, we set up camp for the rest of the afternoon at Kealakekua Beach. There were only a few others out at the end of the trail by the time we made it there. We got into the water with our snorkel gear to see what we could find. Something about the tide and the waves though was pushing us up again some pretty shallow waters with rough coral below us. My anxiety was kicking in a bit, making it even harder to float calmly above water of course. It wasn't until Hannah knew she hurt her foot pretty bad, that we both went into survival mode to get us out of the shallow and back on shore. She had a pretty gnarly cut in her heel, but other than that it was an insane endpoint to a hike, and the most incredible views of the painted sunset sky on our hike back to the car.
4.
Thurston Lava Tube
kilauea iki trail
The Thurston lava tube was definitely more "guided" than the kaumana caves. And a cool addition feature to checkout along the Kilauea Iki trail as a part of our Volcanoes National Park adventure.
5.
Devastation Trail
Kilauea Iki crater
The Devastation trail was a pretty barren walk, as it is the site of the 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki Crater!
6.
Kilauea Iki Trailhead
volcanoes national park
This hike was by far one of the craziest, and perhaps hilarious and scary hikes at the same time. The hike starts off walking down into the crater and across the expanse of it. By the time we reached the other end of it climbing over broken chunks of lava, we were already losing daylight. We found our way up to the rim trail and eventually between darkness and our flashlights and a few wooden signs we got ourselves back to the car.
7.
Narnia
Hilo
Narnia was straight from a fantasy novel. We were hiking north from Hilo to check out a few different waterfalls, when our hitchiking finally worked and we got a ride from a super friendly local who took us to the trailhead (aka the portal) out to Narnia. Based on his directions we finally made our way out to the insane spot with three or four different waterfalls all pooling into each other. And the very last fall was perfectly tall enough to jump off of! Safe to say we came back a couple times over to enjoy such a private and special find.
8.
Kapaho Hot Ponds
kapaho | hot ponds
For my first hot pond experience, it was a crazy find in total darkness. We brought our headlamps, but actually so much of the peace and beauty of it was letting your eyes adjust into the setting sky. We hopped to a couple spots all near each other- the last one was filled with little cockroaches hiding and running in the spotlight of our flashlights.