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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution -- processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct human culture. The park encompasses 230,000 acres and ranges from sea level to the summit of the earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, offers scientists insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and visitors views of dramatic volcanic landscapes. Over half of the park is designated wilderness and provides unusual hiking and camping opportunities. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been honored as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. Kilauea Iki > Kilauea is justly renowned for its lava flows and fountains. Residents and visitors alike enjoy the beauty and the relatively benign nature of the activity. Few realize, however, that Kilauea has a dark side-explosions. The first western visitor to Kilauea, Rev. William Ellis on August 1, 1823, was told by residents that, "for many kings' reigns past [Kilauea had been] throwing up, with violent explosion, huge rocks or red-hot stones." These same residents related the oral tradition of a battle between the volcano goddess, Pele, and her erstwhile lover, the pig god Kamapua`a, that ended with Pele "driving Kamapua`a into the sea, whither she followed him with thunder, lightning, and showers of large stones." Twentieth-century geologists have confirmed this oral history and legend. Surface deposits around Kilauea's caldera tell of a series of explosions lasting from about AD 1500 to AD 1790, when members of a warring band were killed in the last major explosion of the series. Evidence has recently been discovered of explosions about 1,000-1,200 years ago. And, explosive activity from an old caldera at Kilauea is known from about 2,100 and 2,800 years ago. Still farther back in time, huge explosions deposited ash across the southwest flank of Kilauea, 20 km and farther from the vent. In fact, Kilauea erupts explosively about as often as does Mount St. Helens. In this respect, Kilauea can be called an explosive volcano. Of course, most of its eruptions produce lava flows and fountains, so the explosive nature of the volcano tends to be overlooked. Steam derived by heating of groundwater is interpreted as the driver for the explosions at Kilauea, and probably collapse of a caldera or pit crater to below the water table is necessary to generate large explosions. Click here for Park map. Hiking Trails The character of the park is best discovered on foot. There are more than 150 miles of trails in the park. Some head off into our wilderness and are only suitable for the those in top physical condition and properly outfitted with winter mountaineering gear. Two of our trails are paved accessible to wheel chairs and strollers. If possible, take the time to take an all day hike or a leisurely stroll through a rain forest. Descends 400 feet through rain forest, crosses the crater floor, passes Pu'u Pua'i cinder cone, and returns via the crater's rim. Of interest: Rain forest, birds, insects, 1959 lava lake, steam vents, cinder and spatter cone. Difficulty: Easy to moderate. Distance and hiking time: 4 mile loop, 2 to 3 hours Distance from Visitor Center to trail head: 2 miles. Trail begins at the Lava Tube parking lot on Crater Rim Drive. Bring water. Expect wet and windy weather and some steep and rocky terrain. Follow the ahu (rock piles)across the crater floor.
Devastation
Trail Walk over the cinder outfall and through a forest recovering from Kilauea lki's 1959 eruption. Plants, birds, insects, cinder with olivine and Pele's hair and tears, tree molds, cinder and spatter cone. Difficulty: Easy Distance and hiking time: 1 mile roundtrip, 45 minutes. Distance from Visitor Center to trailhead: 4 miles. Trail begins at the Devastation Trail parking lot on Crater Rim Drive. Wheelchair and stroller accessible paved path . Stay on the trail. Do not climb Pu'u Pua'i cinder cone.
Pu'uhuluhulu
& Mauna Ulu This trail crosses 1973 and 1974 lava flows, through kipuka, past lava trees, and climbs 150 feet to the summit of Pu'u Huluhulu. On a clear day, you can see Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Pu'u 'O'o and the Pacific Ocean. Pahoehoe lava, kipuka, lava trees, cinder cone, lava shield, pioneer plants, and panoramic vista. The trail begins on pahoehoe lava that erupted from a fissure 2,600 feet (800 m) to the north. After crossing 650 feet (200 m) of lava the trail enters another kipuka. About 50 feet (15 m) into the kipuka, look for a small path leading to the right. This trail leads to an area where a methane explosion blew apart the surface of a solid lava flow. Heat from the nearby 1974 aa lava flow caused vegetation (plants and roots) to burn. Methane gas was generated and trapped in small pockets between lava flows. Heat caused the methane to explode and blast away the overlying rocks. This type of explosion is hazardous and unpredictable. That is why geologists avoid going near the front of an active lava flow as it travels through a forest. The trail passes to the left of a prehistoric spatter rampart. Spatter ramparts are ridges of congealed pyroclastic material built up on a fissure or a vent. Lava trees and tree molds are very much the same thing, but one stands in relief, and the other is left as a hole in the ground (Finch, 1931). Lava trees (and tree molds) form when fluid lava moves through a forest. As the fluid lava surrounds the tree, a sheath of solidified lava forms around the tree. The base of the tree will burns to ash or is converted to charcoal, depending on the circulation of air (Lockwood and Williams, 1978). The sheath of quenched basalt may be preserved as a cylindrical cavity in the flow or as a hollow pillar projecting above the surface. Lava trees (pillars) form if the lava drains to a lower area or if a thick flow subsides as it cools. The panorama from the summit of Puu Huluhulu is one of the best in the park. From here you can see two of the other volcanoes of the Big Island. To the west is Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa is in the shield stage of evolution. On the north horizon Mauna Kea peaks above the long northeast rift zone of Mauna Loa. The Ai-laau shield of Kilauea is in the middle ground. Part of the Puu Huluhulu spatter and cinder cone is in the foreground. Mauna Kea is in the capping stage of evolution and has moved off the hot spot. The best view is often down the east rift zone of Kilauea to the Puu Oo cone, the site of an active lava pond. Kane Nui O Hamo, a prehistoric shield-shaped vent, is on the horizon to the right of Puu Oo. Immediately south of Puu Huluhulu is the Mauna Ulu vent. Mauna Ulu erupted from 1969 to 1974, building this large shield-shaped vent and sending lava to the ocean. Difficulty: Easy to moderate Distance and hiking time: 3 miles roundtrip, 2 hours Distance from Visitor Center to trailhead: 8 miles/25 minutes. The trail begins at the Mauna Ulu parking area on the Chain of Craters Road. Bring water. Prepare for hot and dry or wet and windy weather. Follow the ahu (rock piles) over the lava flows. Sulfur fumes may be strong on some days. The Mauna Ulu eruption ended on July 22, 1974. Kilauea Volcano had erupted for nearly 5 years at a vent on the East Rift Zone of the volcano. This was the longest flank eruption of a Hawaiian volcano in historical time (a record that has been broken by the current eruption. It dramatically changed the landscape by covering large areas with lava, filling two pit craters, constructing a new vent, and adding land onto the island. Roadways & Bike Trails This 11 mile drive encircles Kilauea's summit caldera and craters, passes through rain forest and desert, and provides access to well marked scenic stops and short walks. The best place to start the tour is at the Kilauea Visitor Center. Films shown throughout the day provide an introduction to the park and volcanology. Ask at the information desk about ranger-guided walks, hikes and other programs. Located nearby is the Volcano Art Center, housed in the historic original Volcano House built in 1877. It hosted many 19th century visitors to Kilauea and is now a gallery for local artists and craftsmen.
Hilina
Pali Road This steep slope is a fault scarp. Rocks of the coastal region have been down dropped about 1,000 feet (300 m) relative to rocks higher up on the flank of Kilauea. This movement occurs gradually over a long period of time. For example, during the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 1975, the largest earthquake in Hawaii this century, a fault on the south flank of the volcano moved 5 feet (1.5 m). The south flank of Kilauea volcano is being pushed towards the ocean by the injection of magma into the rift zone. Volcanologists use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to make precise measurements of different locations on the volcano. GPS uses radio signals from satellites to determine the location of a receiving station to less than a centimeter. Measurements are made a few times each year. The maximum rate of movement measured so far is 4 inches (10 cm) per year. This is a high rate of motion for a geologic feature. The mobile south flank of Kilauea volcano is part of a giant landslide that extends 25 miles (40 km) offshore. This slow moving landslide is called the Hilina slump. The Hilina slump moves intermittently over long periods of time. Other giant landslides in Hawaii move catastrophically, removing large pieces of an island almost instantaneously. Click here to see an aerial photo of the Hilina Pali escarpment. The road we bike on is at the top edge of the escarpment.
Nature
& the Ecosystem Saving an Ecosystem HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK is an island within an island. It is a shelter for what remains of the once-rich tapestry of Hawaiian life -- a tapestry unraveled by alien species. In some areas of the park, natural habitats are damaged beyond recovery. The park concentrates its energies on the most biologically diverse habitats and those that offer the best chance for successful restoration. The immediate strategy is to control or eliminate the most disruptive alien plant and animal invaders. Park crews erect fences to keep out feral animals; hunt feral pigs; and pull out or cut down firetree, banana poka, guava, and ginger. As native plant communities reestablish themselves populations of Hawaiian honeycreepers, nene, Kamehameha butterflies and happyface spiders once again flourish. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawaii Volcanoes has been honored as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. The park continues to mend the fabric and promote the lasting vitality of this remnant of pristine Hawai'i. Threats to Hawaii’s Native Ecosystems Nene & Other Birds > Along with the voyaging canoes that brought the first humans to Hawai`i just 1,500 years ago, came the need to clear land for food and housing. And when Europeans arrived in the late 1700’s, the impacts increased dramatically: more forests were felled for agriculture, grazing, and fuel. But with the arriving Polynesians and Europeans were settlers that would prove to be even more destructive than themselves to the native ecosystem: plants and animals that were not native to Hawai`i. While over half of the original landscape that greeted the first Polynesian voyagers to what is now Hawai`i, is lost forever, the main threat to Hawaii`s surviving ecosystems and native species is the impact of alien pests. Because Hawaii's native plants and animals evolved without the presence of large mammals, they cannot withstand the effects of introduced pigs, goats, cattle and deer, whose browsing, rooting, and trampling destroys vegetation, accelerates erosion, and opens the way for other introduced animal and plant pests. Native plants are defenseless against aggressive non-native plants that crowd or shade them out. One non-native plant in particular, Miconia, has the potential to completely take over Hawaii’s rain forests if left unchecked. For information about Hawaii's Natural Preserves click on the map below.
THE NENE & OTHER BIRDS IN HAWAI'I Hawaiian Goose - Nene Hawai'i is not a place where large native animals abound. You may occasionally see humpback whales break the ocean surface, or a group of porpoises arcing gracefully in and out of the water. `Io (Hawaiian hawks) and pueo (short-eared owls) sometimes hover overhead, and `ope`ape`a (Hawaiian bats) flutter across bays and roadways at dusk. But the Island's most noticeable large native animal is the nene or Hawaiian goose. Honored as the State Bird, the endangered nene symbolizes the precarious existence of Hawai`i's native birdlife. At least nine species of geese evolved in the Islands, probably from ancestors much like the Canada goose. Eight of these species were flightless and probably grazed on the plants of the ancient Hawaiian landscape. Extinction of these flightless geese resulted from hunting by Polynesians and land use changes in Hawai`i's lowlands. Our remaining goose is also a herbivore. Though it is a strong and frequent flyer, its short wings,long legs and reduced webbing between its toes indicate that it often walks and seldom swims. Perhaps 25,000 nene existed in Hawai`i when Captain Cook arrived in 1778. By the mid 1940's only 50 birds remained. Populations were drastically reduced by introduced predators such as mongooses, cats and dogs; by foraging animals such as cattle, goats and pigs; by hunters; by introduced plants which compete with native food and cover plants; and by loss of lowland habitat. In the 1970's, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park began a captive nene breeding and reintroduction program. But, several factors hinder population increases. Mongooses and feral cats kill adults and goslings. Automobiles hit and kill nene along roadways. Nene that are attracted to the grassy fairways of golf courses suffer injury or death by errant golf balls. In upland habitats, nutrition is usually not adequate for gosling growth requirements. Park biologists mark both wild and captive-reared Nene with leg bands to facilitate identification and tracking of individual birds. Usually, this is done when birds are young and cannot yet fly. From banding and subsequent monitoring, we have learned much about Nene family and flock life. If this population persists in the coming years, we will doubtless learn more about the behavior, biology, and ecology of this unique, terrestrial goose. Top of Page | More Information About Hawaii Of Hawaii's birds, the honeycreepers (Drepanidinae) are most famous, having put on what is arguably the world's most dazzling display of adaptive radiation--an explosion of species from a single unspecialized ancestor to at least 54 species that filled available niches in the islands' habitats. In fact, speciation in the Hawaiian honeycreepers dwarfs the famed radiation of Darwin's 14 Galapagos finches. Robert Fleischer, Cheryl Tarr, and Carl McIntosh at the National Zoo's Molecular Genetics Laboratory estimate that the honeycreepers' ancestor arrived three to four million years ago; others put the arrival farther back, at closer to seven million years ago. This ancestor--one colonizing species of finch, possibly a Eurasian rosefinch (Carpodacus sp.) or, less likely, the North American house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)--started what proved to be an evolutionary snowball. "There must have been a lot of open niches, and the birds hit the islands and speciated very rapidly," says Fleischer, who studies the genetics of fossil and living Hawaiian birds. Rapidly, in terms of geologic time, is thought to be within the first 200,000 to 300,000 years after the first finch touch-down. Nectar-feeding honeycreepers evolved dramatically curved bills designed for probing and extracting the nectar from the flowers of Hawaii's endemic lobelias and other plants. Insectivorous honeycreepers developed thin, warbler-like bills for picking insects from the foliage. Seed-eaters developed stouter, stronger bills for cracking tough husks. Some species probed or cracked bark with strong hooked bills seeking wood-boring insects, thereby filling a niche woodpeckers do elsewhere. Honeycreepers shared the islands with an array of other unique bird species. In 1991, Storrs L. Olson and Helen F. James of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History described for the first time 32 extinct species they identified from bones found in lava tubes, sinkholes, dunes, and excavated Polynesian refuse piles (middens) on the main Hawaiian Islands over the past 19 years. Three others had been previously described. When their analyses are through, at least 20 more species will likely be added. These recent findings conjure up a vision of an almost mythical world where birds, not mammals, dominated. Large flightless waterfowl called moa nalos were the islands' large herbivores. A harrier, a hawk, an eagle, and four owls topped the food chain as predators. No mammals patrolled the ground (Hawaii's only native land mammal is a bat), and, with the need to fly gone, many of the castaway bird species, such as endemic ducks, ibis, and rails, lost their powers of flight. No mammals patrolled the ground (Hawaii's only native land mammal is a bat), and, with the need to fly gone, many of the castaway bird species, such as endemic ducks, ibis, and rails, lost their powers of flight. But splendid isolation left Hawaii's flora and fauna ill-equipped to deal with the arrival of humans, and, as on most other isolated islands, endemic species quickly disappeared, or declined, once Homo sapiens hit the shores and wiped out flightless and ground-nesting species. More Information About Hawaii | Top of Page >
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