Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Halema'uma'u is the latest home of Pele, the Hawai'ian goddess of fire. Her first home was on Ni'ihau, but the sea goddess chased Pele from island to island, destroying each dwelling that Pele created until Pele arrived on the Big Island. She resides today in Halema'uma'u Crater, inside Kilauea Caldera. The park has many hiking trails and scenic areas for everybody's enjoyment. At an altitude of 4,000 feet, the temperature is cool, becoming almost cold at night.

For volcanic activity news call 808-967-7977 and you will hear a recording with the latest eruption news.

This eruption has been ongoing now for many years. The vent is not accessible to visitors but one can drive down the Chain of Craters Road late in the day before sunset and wait for darkness. Take a picnic dinner as your return to the top of Kilauea will be late. Also take a flashlight! You will experience a view of the acid cloud generated by the lava entering the ocean. After dark probably will give you a view of at least the glow from the red hot lava. If one is lucky, the lava itself will be visible pouring into the ocean.

These conditions are always changing and the volcano's plumbing gets stopped up at times interrupting the underground flow through the lava tubes. When this happens, generally a few days after the stoppage, lava starts down the Pali (cliff) on the surface until it forms new lava tubes and returns underground to end up entering the ocean.

The Chain of Craters Road is somewhat obstructed as you can see below and one can no longer drive through and back to Hilo through Kalapana, where the black sand beach is also covered with lava .

For those interested in Golf:

Volcano Golf & Country Club (Semi-Private)

  • Golf Course Rd
  • Volcano National Park, Hawai'i, HI 96718
  • (808) 967-7331

18 Holes. Designed by Jack Snyder. Built in 1920.

Weekday green fees are $50.00 and weekend green fees are $50.00.

Tees:

  • Championship - Yardage: 6503 Rating: 70.40 Slope: 128 Par: 72
  • Men's - Yardage: 6180 Rating: 68.60 Slope: 125 Par: 72
  • Ladies' - Yardage: 5514 Rating: 70.70 Slope: 117 Par: 72

This course is located next to Volcanoes National Park. It is fairly flat, but it has some rolling hills which will cause uneven lies. There is a pond and three ditches which affect four holes. Almost all of the tees and some of the greens are elevated. The most difficult hole on the course is number 15, a 425 yard, par 4, which requires a tee shot up a dogleg fairway with tall pines guarding the turn.

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