We started our last day in the rain forest with another outside shower and soak in the furo. We concentrated on gathering our things quickly and getting out the door by 8AM and we made it. We headed straight for the park and returned directly to Kiluah Iki trail. We were immediately rewarded for returning this morning. Instead of the blackness of night and mountain fog, we were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning and a stunning view into the crater. We could see steam vents right away. We descended on a well maintained trail, running into very few people along the way (there was only one other car in the parking lot). After a 10 minute walk through jungle, we were on the crater floor. The sun was hot in the open and we made our way across the crater, stopping to view various steam vents up close.
One side of the crater is smooth, pahoehoe. The other side is rough, aa. They are separated by a ridge in between, where I would guess the fountains of lava sprung in the 1970's. Ascending the south crater wall was comparable to Susan's gym's stairmaster. We had both broken into sweats upon reaching the rim. We returned via the west crater rim, still on the Kilauea Iki trail, within the rainforest jungle. Somewhere along the trail, I was stung by a large black bee on the back of my left arm. It was one of the most painful stings I've experienced. First, two sharp pains, followed by intense burning. Once it swelled up to the size of a golf ball on my arm, it began to feel extremely warm. This was followed by cycles of pain for most of the rest of the day, decreasing in intensity. The following day, it felt like a mosquito bite. We also came across a small family of Hawai'ian pheasants, one male and two females, on the trail back to the car.
Upon completing the 4 mile loop hike in about an hour and a half, we drove to Jaggar Museum and checked out the huge Kilua Crater from the view point. We also went through the museum, which was very informative.
We left the park and preceded further down Hwy 11, just past mile marker 30, and up a road to Hawai'i Volcano Winery. We sampled their wines and found them surprisingly good, especially their locally grown Symphony Dry and the dessert Macadamia Honey wine.
Not wanting to waste one last opportunity to go to Kapalana, we drove straight from the winery to our favorite black sand beach. The sun was intense and the surf was a bit more rough, but we had a fantastic time sun bathing and swimming. On the drive back, we took a narrow, one lane road in order to return to Hwy 130. In the middle of the jungle, we ran into a small artist residence, where Eddy, a mainland transplant, made Easter Island style Tiki's. We talked to Eddy for 30 minutes before moving on down the road and driving to Waipi'o. We got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic in Hilo around 3:30PM. Susan was getting very nervous we wouldn't make it to Waipi'o Artworks Gallery in time to get our directions and entry to the Cliff House. The drive out was again, beautiful, Hawai'ian style. The highway crosses numerous small canyons where waterfalls tumble on your left and bays open to the ocean on your right. We made it to the gallery just in time, at about 10 minutes to 5PM. We picked up our directions and a garage door opener for entry through the secured gate. We were greeted by chickens, horses and a cute black cat. Susan and I ran into the house, used the bathroom, took a fast look around, and hopped back in the car in order to return to Honoka'a, the nearest town with services, so we could pick up groceries for the house. Once back at the house, we grilled grass fed, local Hawai'ian rib eye steaks, Molakai sweet bread, mustard cabbage (we never had this before), scalloped potatoes out of a box (for the convenience factor, but they were delicious) and fresh fruit cocktails made in a blender. We had pina coladas and papaya coladas. We retired after dinner to Dish TV.
The Cliff House deserves it's own description. It's literally on a cliff, 1000 feet above the ocean. Great views from the front room and kitchen, a deck viewing east and north, two full bedrooms and a full bath....I couldn't believe we were staying here and made Susan double check that we had the right place. And it even comes with its own black cat! There are lots of bugs out here, and bees have currently invaded the bathroom wall (we'll be calling Richard later today, just to let him know....even with my anxiety of being stung after yesterday, we aren't going anywhere!).
We woke up sporadically throughout the night, but not from lack of a good rest.....only so we could continue to check out the changing view. The moonrise this morning, a small crescent, was unbelievable. The dark side of the moon was very visible, as there is no, I mean zero, light pollution on this part of the island.
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