Lava Highway 132, Hawaii’s newest lava field is found on Big Island’s eastern flank, in its rural and agricultural Puna District, and is traversed by a gently curving highway that was opened just a few years ago: Lava Highway 132. This is a pristine broad-shouldered, two-lane road built on top of the vast sea of …
Lava Highway 132 – Puna’s Hilly Drive to the Coast Through A River of Hardened Rock Read More »
Along a desolate stretch of coastline within Big Island’s Puna District, a group of tidal pools naturally formed long ago by a massive lava flow can be found among the endless stretches of unforgiving cliffs and crashing waves. Known as the Mermaid Ponds These are known collectively as “Mermaid Ponds” by locals, and they serve …
MacKenzie State Park, formally known as MacKenzie State Recreation Area, is a 13-acre windswept grove of towering ironwood trees situated along a stretch of jagged sea cliffs found within Big Island’s volcano-prone Puna District. It’s a rugged, isolated and serenely beautiful forest of rustling trees, outcroppings of moss-covered black rock, well-hidden lava tubes and the …
There are few places on Big Island that better illustrate the strange intersection of its perennial volcanic activity and its manmade endeavors than Isaac Hale Beach Park. This is where picnickers and sunbathers lounge around astonishingly close to the edge of intimidating walls of jagged, porous, jet-black lava rock which just a couple of years …
Isaac Hale Beach Park: Have Lunch in a Lava Field Read More »
Hilo Bayfront Park is just a short walk away from its sprawling farmer’s market and neighboring bus station, downtown Hilo and its small colorful shops and leafy, rain-swept sidewalks give way to an incredibly long beach of black sand and gentle lapping waves. The expansive coastline of rough, smooth black lava pebbles appears almost perfectly …
Hilo Bayfront Park – A Paddler’s Delight, and One Of the Island’s Longest Beaches Read More »
The sands of West Hawaii beaches are predominantly white, made of finely pulverized coral built up over millennia. But on the eastern shores, Punalu’u Beach the sands are black; a testament to its active volcanic heritage, where rivers of lava from the massive volcano Mauna Loa and its smaller offshoot, Kilauea Volcano, charge downhill to …
Punalu’u Beach – The Best Black Sand on the Big Island Read More »
Big Island’s habitual volcanic activity has created some truly unique geological formations, from Papakolea Green Sand Beach in South Point to Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano to the newest addition to the list: “Ahuaila’au”, also known as Fissure 8, which cropped up during the 2018 Lower Puna Eruption and has towered over …
Lava Tree State Park – Black Rock Monuments Formed Around Ancient Tree Trunks Read More »
Just a short walk down Hilo’s Bayfront brings Big Island locals and visitors to Waiakea Peninsula and its verdant and immaculately manicured epicenter, Liliuokalani Park and Gardens. The gardens comprise a portion of the 24-acre county park jutting out into Hilo Bay, which seems to have a little something for everyone; placid fishponds where colorful …
Liliuokalani Park and Gardens – Hilo’s Leafy, Seaside Recreation Spot Read More »
In the hills above the City of Hilo, near the approach to the inter-island highway known as “Saddle Road” which links East and West Hawaii on the Big Island, there’s a massive lava tube beside the road that goes unnoticed by most drivers. A portion of the tube’s ceiling collapsed many decades ago, creating entrances …
Fifty thousands years ago, flowing underground magma from Hawai’i Island’s second most important volcano – Mauna Loa – collided with groundwater, causing an violent explosion of volcanic ash and creating what is known among today’s volcanologists as a “tuff ring”. This was a massive mound of mineral rich ash and other volcanic products which grew …
Papakolea Green Sand Beach – An Idyllic, Isolated Geological Rarity Read More »