Saturday, August 8

Kilauea caldera (Pele's home)

The Thurston lava tube

Devastation Trail

The Sea Arch at the end of the Chain of Craters road

End of road. Ironically the sign you see says, Road Closed

Up kind of late last night. We had a nice breakfast at the Crater's Rim Cafe at the camp and then went to the Visitors Center to check out the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We took a short ranger-led tour and learned a little more about the area. We drove to the Jagger's museum which had a lot of the seismic machines that measure the numerous earthquakes that occur almost daily in the park and information about the active volcanoes on the island. We saw the Kilauea caldera where, according to Hawaiian legends, the goddess Pele lives. Some of the park roads were closed because of the sulfuric acid in the air and possible explosions. After lunch we drove the Chain of Craters road. One of the most interesting trails we took was the one through the Thurston lava tube. We also walked the Devastation trail where we saw first hand the destruction caused by the erupting volcanoes. The road went all the way back down to sea level and we could see where the lava had flowed across the road.