To cut straight to the point, this park is badass. After multiple backpacking trips inside the park, I’ve determined that’s the most fitting description for its personality. Seriously, Mount Doom is wicked steep and a pain to hike up because of the scree, but the surrounding landscape has nothing as ominous as the otherworldly feel of the slopes of Mauna Loa.
Both of my trips were recommendations from a friend, and I feel the trips covered a variety of landscapes. One hike had me hoping altitude sickness would leave me alone as I climbed Mauna Loa, which is the largest mountain in the world by landmass. I drove my Mustang up to the parking area at 6662 feet and gradually climbed my way up to 13667 feet in the company of a couple friendly Frenchmen. While initially in some brush vegetation, 3/4 of the hike was over shades of red, gold, and black a’a and pahoehoe. My mind was utterly blown by the sinister, alien appearance of the landscape. I’ve never been on such a unique mountain; the gentle slope, substrate underfoot, and surrounding features created such a foreign experience.
My other hike took me from the Mau Loa o Mauna Ulu area down the Keahou Trail to the Halape Beach. When I parked in the middle of the gigantic lava field, my first thought was “… and how do I follow this trail?” I quickly realized that there’s no lack of rocks for ahu – cairns – along the trail. However, I was a little distracted from the get-go as I was hiking around like a conservation canine peering at every “little” burst of lava and clambering around with a smile on my face. I wanted to check out everything.
Ultimately I knew I should carry on down the trail, where I first found trees mixed in with chunks of crumpled lava and then eventually low brush. As I descended elevation I found myself in more high grasses and then some obnoxious plant that scratched up my ankles. By the time I was almost to Halape, I’d realized I was approaching what looked like a little oasis of palm trees, lush green plants, and a protected cove. What a range from 2680 feet down to sea level!
The next day I ended up enjoying and exploring the area before taking a lazy stroll just down the coast to Keahou Beach. Just a 1/4 mile more down the Puna Coast Trail I found my playground: another enormous lava field. Since I’d set up camp and was only carrying some cameras, this is when I really started bounding around like a puppy and decided the park is unlike anywhere else I’ve visited. I really wished I had someone else along to enthusiastically react (aka freak out) over every little discovery with me. If anyone had been watching me, they may have questioned my sanity; I’m perfectly okay with that.
Immediately I thought to myself, Only seasoned veterans of lava monster can play here. Seriously, there’s no safe zone! This is so cool!
While bounding around I tried to figure out which adjective best describes Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Every new feature I checked out ended up getting a “This is so cool!” line, but cool doesn’t give the park enough credit. I considered thinking of the park as:
- awesome – the sights do provoke awe, but the connotation is too nice for the rugged nature of lava
- beautiful – once again, too pretty for such a harsh landscape
- spectacular – too breath-taking or magnificent
- magnificent – too formal or extravagant
- grandiose – the size fits, but it gives no indication of the power of lava
Ultimately none of these words or any other synonyms felt right. I decided that ‘badass’ is really the only word to describe the nature of the park. It delivers the edgy, evil connotation of lava and imparts the power behind volcanic landscapes.
While running around this giant playground, I couldn’t help but wonder why so few people were out there. Most people were likely wasting away as they typed up boring reports or stressed over yearly spending figures for companies consumed only with making money while I was exploring and living. Some people who have free time spend it wondering about utterly useless topics like Britney Spears’ dress size. How do such trivial topics contribute to our lives in any way?
There’s so much more worth pondering and seeing in the world, such as… lava, the northern lights, bioluminescence, ancient cities and ruins, wildlife, Antarctica, marine life, fortresses, stars, microbreweries, and wilderness!
Office cubicles, spinning chairs, and the internet can’t give you all of that. And most places can’t give you giant lava fields, so go to the Big Island of Hawaii as soon as you can.
