On the west end of the park is a vast area I had never ventured into, the Kaʻu Desert. This was going to change, the two hikes on the top of the list for this particular stay in the park were Mauna Ulu and the Kaʻu Desert. Having accomplished the prior it was time for the latter.
There are two sets of trailheads to enter the Kaʻu Desert. Several of the trailheads are along Highway 11 on the north side of the area. To avoid leaving my car on the side of the main island belt road I chose to use one of the trailheads along the Hilina Pali Road inside the park. Here one can find the Mauna Iki Trail leading to Twin Craters.
The trail heads northwest across this dry landscape, crossing old lava flows on its way to the heart of the southwest rift zone. Along the rift a series of cinder cones, spatter cones, and collapse pits document millennia of volcanic activity. Appraching the area one crosses onto ever fresher lava flows, the dark black contrasting with the weathered golden brown of the old flows found on the first sections of the trail.
The Mauna Iki Trail, as with most of the Kaʻu Desert trails is lightly used, I did not see another hiker all day long, in this busy national park I had the trail entirely to myself. And it was a perfect day for it… Unusually the wind was blowing from the west, bringing a sea breeze up from the ocean below and blowing any volcanic fumes from the current eruption the other way. The cool breeze was quite welcome as this hike would be hot enough under a cloudless sky.
Trail is a generous term for this route, much of the trail is merely a set of cairns marking a path across the lava flows. You spend much of the hike making your way across the uneven surface. Where the path is not solid rock it consists of soft sand found in low areas, the glassy and gritty material weathered from the crust of recent lava flows or the remains of volcanic tephra deposited downwind from the caldera. Twin Craters is only a five mile round trip… Back at the car I felt pretty good, except for my calves and ankles complaining about five miles of rock-hopping and loose sand.
Approaching the rift zone is obvious, the old volcanic vents tower over the landscape along the ridgeline. Of the destination, Twin Craters, there is no sign. Unlike the vents there is no edifice of lava spatter and cinder to mark these pit craters, you do not see them until you are upon them. Formed not by eruption but rather by collapse into a void below these are surprisingly large pits in the expanse of lava.
These two pits are enourmous, a hundred feet across and thrice as deep. There are signs warning hikers to keep back from the unstable rim, advice that should be heeded. In one spot I can see that what might look like solid ground to someone approaching from straight on is actually a thin plate of rock hanging over a sheer drop. A more recent flow has poured over the edge of the northern pit providing a somewhat safer place to peek over the edge into the yawning void below.
Circling overhead is a pair of long-tailed tropicbirds, their elegant forms stark white against an azure sky. I wonder if they have a nest in the wall of the crater, a place safe from rats and moongoose to lay their one precious egg.
Currently there is another hazard on this trail… Pele’s hair. Recent lava fountains have generated copious amound of this fragmented glass fiber, it drifts on the wind across the rift zone and covers every surface. The wind has deposited masses of the stuff in low areas and crevices. This fiberglass like material is golden in color, and has stiff fibers, a true hazard that can become embedded in skin or worse, the tender tissues around the eyes and mouth.
My usual habit is to have a long break at my turn-around point, break out the muchies and drink, and enjoy the scenery at my destination. With Pele’s hair covering everything there was literally no place to sit down where one would not get an ass full of fiberglass. I ended up hiking nearly half way back before I could take a break.
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