Goat House Lava Tube

It is not really called Goat House. It is just that I have never heard another name, Goat House is what I have named the cave considering the lack of any better designation. The tube is no great secret, its existence is well known to longtime residents.

The grasslands around Waikoloa seem rather barren, useful only to the foraging cattle. Like the rest of the island these are old lava flows, and some not so very old. There are interesting volcanic features, including a number of hidden lava tubes.

This tube is found several miles out the power line road just above the village. The road starts across from the stables and heads straight south. There are side roads that go left and right, just go straight to the cave.

Along the way you find the mauka fence of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative restoration effort. This fence keeps the goats out of a 275 acre area in an effort to preserve native trees like the Wiliwili. With some success it appears, the trees look pretty good. The wiliwili are strikingly beautiful trees, I am happy to see them thriving here.

Finding the actual tube is rather trivial, the road zigs to go around the pit. This first entrance is challenging, it would require climbing gear to use, sheer 15 to 20 ft walls drop the the rubble below. Glancing at the satellite photo quickly identifies two more entrances, one mauka and one makai. The makai entrance is also a pit. The mauka entrance is much better, the tube is shallower here and a rubble pile allows easy access.

The entrance is a barnyard. The floor of the tube is heavy with goat droppings and a litter of bones. The smell is heavy as well, the goats must use the tube to escape the heat or poor weather. No live goats are present during my visit, but judging by the signs, usage is recent. No recently dead goats seem present either, the smell is not that bad.

Knowing no other name for this cave I decide on Goat House, it seems entirely appropriate. It is either that or Goat Tomb, that just seems too dreary.

With the idea that getting away from the light will allow me to leave the barnyard behind I head mauka. Going downhill will lead to the first entrance and another pile of goat bones. Heading uphill works, the goat manure fades as the light fades. There are signs of the goats further back, including occasional bone piles, but it is not too bad.

I have with me my usual pocket LED flashlight, actually a pretty good light with incredible brightness for its size. As a backup I grab the headlight off the bike. This would be enough to allow a quick poke inside and to allow a little photography in the dark.

This is an old tube, rubble clutters the floor, the rock weathered with age. Heavy white deposits of some mineral coat the walls in places. A number of classic features mark the tube. Lavacicles can be seen along the roof, flow lines along the walls. At a couple points small side passages reenter the main tube, too small for exploration.

In places it is necessary to scramble over rubble piles, hunching to avoid the low roof. I am glad I never bothered to remove the bike helmet. The tube ends after a few hundred yards, the roof dropping into the floor. No choice but to turn around and return to the light.

Getting to the tube was the more difficult part. I did not drive, rather I biked from the house. An “easy” eight mile ride… Eight miles up and down the steep Waikola hills, half the ride on a rocky powerline road. My posterior is going to feel those rocks for a couple days.

There are several lava tubes in the vicinity of Waikoloa, some found below the village are probably a continuation of Goat House tube. Perhaps destinations for additional bike rides.