Maunaiki Trail - Ka'u Desert Hike
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This was our longest hike while we were in Hawaii. It is on the map of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park although not as well described on the park’s web site as some other trails…but my daughter was familiar with it from prior geology field trip. We started from the parking area on the Hilina Pali Road (hiking as far as the graben about 2 miles in and then returning the same way. The landscape is relatively barren so the ‘trail’ is marked with cairns.
This was our longest hike while we were in Hawaii. It is on the map of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park although not as well described on the park’s web site as some other trails…but my daughter was familiar with it from prior geology field trip. We started from the parking area on the Hilina Pali Road (hiking as far as the graben about 2 miles in and then returning the same way. The landscape is relatively barren so the ‘trail’ is marked with cairns.
I found myself watching my step on the uneven surface. I was glad the temperature was not too hot (due to the elevation) and we were not going up or down very much. There was lots of variation in the lava surface: rock that looked braided,
Seeming endless undulating rock with sand and small gravel in between,
Big crevasses that had to be stepped over (note fern that has managed to grow in one of the cracks along the side),
Lava that was colorful colorful (determined by minerals and the speed that it cooled and hardened,
Pele’s hair that glittered in places the wind had swept it (it is very thin strands of volcanic glass),
Rock that must have had a lot of air bubbles as it solidified,
And then looking down into a graben and seeing the sand that has filled the low places.
To provide some scale of some of the features – here is my daughter on top of one of the mounds. Note that she is wearing gloves. Almost of these rocks can cut your hands – so any climbing or picking up a rock (or Pele’s hair) to examine requires protection for your hands. And hiking boots may never be quite the same after hiking in this environment! We also made sure we lathered on the sun screen on all exposed skin (reapplied during the hike).
Now to focus on some of the few green plants that colonize the lava along this trail. I found myself cheering them on.
It often seems like there are no other living things in this harsh environment – but they are probably simply camouflaged. We did manage to see one spider as we hiked back to our car.
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