Exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea Iki Overlook

by Donald B. MacGowan

Pu'u Pua'i from across Kilauea Iki Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Graphic from Photo by Donald B MacGowan

There are many wondrous, enigmatic and fascinating attractions on the Big Island of Hawaii, some better known than others, many out of the way and generally off the beaten track. Tour Guide Hawaii has produced an encyclopedic collection of the most up-to-date information, presented as short GPS-cued videos, in an app downloadable to iPhone and iPod Touch that covers the entire Big Island, highlighting the popular and the uncrowded, the famous and the secluded, the adventurous and the relaxing.

Kilauea Iki Crater Overlook

Kilauea Iki Crater and Pu'u Pua'i, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

Kilauea Iki, meaning “little Kilauea”, is the still seething remnant of a quite recent (1959), spectacular eruption that filled the crater with a molten lake of lava and threw fire fountains as much as 1900 feet in the air. For a sense of scale, the world’s tallest building, the Taipei 101 which is 101 stories tall and 1667 feet high, would be dwarfed by these fire fountains.

Hikers on the floor of Kilauea Iki Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

Distances across the crater are hard to guess, as steam jets up from small cracks in the now-hardened lava-lake’s surface and the minute specks of hikers cross its black expanse, but the crater today is more than a mile long, 3000 feet across and almost 400 feet from the rim to the surface. At it’s peak, the volcano spewed about two million tons of lava per hour; however, between spurts, much of this liquid drained back into the subterranean plumbing of the caldera, thus giving the distinctive “ring-around-the-crater” look to Kilauea Iki.

Pu'u Pua'i and the eruption of Halema'uma'u, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

The active vent for these eruptions was at Pu’u Pua’i; you can go here for more information on the Pu’u Pua’i eruptions. The hike down into, and across, Kilauea Iki is perhaps the best short hike in the park. Go here to find out more on making this spectacular, but fairly easy, trek.

Rain fills Kiauea Iki Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

To see the new iPhone/iPod Touch App, please visit http://www.tourguidehawaii.com/iphone.html. The best of Tour Guide Hawaii’s free content about traveling to, and exploring, the Big island, can be found here.For more information on traveling to Hawaii in general and on touring the Big Island in particular, please also visit www.tourguidehawaii.com and www.tourguidehawaii.blogspot.com.

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All media copyright 2010 by Donald B. MacGowan. All rights reserved.