Hawaii 2022, 2/4: Chain of Craters road (Kīlauea)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 45.2 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,081 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 4,081 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,970 ft
- TrailRank
- 32
- Min elevation
- 31 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 4 hours 3 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3088
- Uploaded
- October 8, 2022
- Recorded
- May 2022
near Volcano, Hawaii (United States)
Viewed 113 times, downloaded 0 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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Chain of Craters road: descent from Kīlauea Visitor Center to the sea, then ascent via the same route
Made with Bob's gravel: 100% asphalt
Preamble : After visiting Mauna Kea (4205m) and Mauna Loa (4169m), make way for their youngest brother (which adjoins Mauna Loa), one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, almost perpetually erupting 🌋 (strictly speaking, we should probably speak of "emerged" youngest brother because of the existence of the family's submarine cadet, the Kamaʻehuakanaloa , ex-Lōʻihi... but I don't know their exact dates of birth ). 🎂
🏁 Departure from the Kīlauea Visitor Center (in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ) with Clarence and Luke, via the Crater Rim road, which circled the summit caldera completely before the 2018 eruption (the summit of Kīlauea corresponds at the highest rim of this caldera, at 1246m), which led, among other things, to the emptying of the lava lake (since reformed) of the Halema'uma'u crater, whose rims collapsed (I will go and observe it from night a few days later: a breathtaking sight!). 🔥🥰🔥 We then branch off on the Chain of Craters road. Here again, it is a road regularly at the mercy of the moods of the volcano, the route of which has evolved over time. Lava flows from the Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater (which is also part of Kīlauea and hosted another lava lake between 1983 and 2018) have notably buried some old sections of road under thicknesses of lava sometimes reaching 35m! 😮
The hike the day before with John (unforgettable, to the top of Mauna Loa, but rough, on very abrasive terrain, which we had finished a little dehydrated) 🥵 really blew my legs. But for now it's going down! After a passage in the forest (quite dense), we cross several lava flows, more or less recent, and we pass on the edge of several craters (well yes... hence the name of the road!). There are even a few " nēnē " barnacle geese 🦆 (endemic species of Hawaii).
From the panorama that dominates the Pacific by several hundred meters, we can clearly distinguish the flows that have enlarged the island with each new eruption. The road then plunges towards the ocean: there is no more forest, and it blows... really hard! 💨 Uncomfortable with the curved gravel handlebars, I have to stop in the final part of the descent to relax my fingers. 😵 I still end up finding Luke and Clarence, and we go along the sea to the final barrier, shortly after the Hōlei marine arch . It is at this level that the asphalted part ends: the road that previously continued to the village of Kalapana fell victim to the lava flows. A track has since been rebuilt, however, and it is possible to continue in gravel (until a next eruption?), but Luke and Clarence are on road bikes: so we turn back.
I pay a little for the efforts of the hike the day before in the (re)climb to the Kīlauea Visitor Center (1210m) , but Luke is regularly waiting for me. We had planned to continue by the Mauna Loa lookout road, but the rain intensified, ☔️ it's not very hot, and Luke seems to have a small misplaced injury 😬 ( "a moment of pain" , you will say -il, in reference to our previous adventures )... so we'll leave it at that for the day! 😉
Hawaiian Bike Adventures :
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 1/4: Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 2/4: Chain of Craters road (Kīlauea)
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 3/4: Mauna Haleakala
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 4/4: Waimea canyon
Made with Bob's gravel: 100% asphalt
Preamble : After visiting Mauna Kea (4205m) and Mauna Loa (4169m), make way for their youngest brother (which adjoins Mauna Loa), one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, almost perpetually erupting 🌋 (strictly speaking, we should probably speak of "emerged" youngest brother because of the existence of the family's submarine cadet, the Kamaʻehuakanaloa , ex-Lōʻihi... but I don't know their exact dates of birth ). 🎂
🏁 Departure from the Kīlauea Visitor Center (in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ) with Clarence and Luke, via the Crater Rim road, which circled the summit caldera completely before the 2018 eruption (the summit of Kīlauea corresponds at the highest rim of this caldera, at 1246m), which led, among other things, to the emptying of the lava lake (since reformed) of the Halema'uma'u crater, whose rims collapsed (I will go and observe it from night a few days later: a breathtaking sight!). 🔥🥰🔥 We then branch off on the Chain of Craters road. Here again, it is a road regularly at the mercy of the moods of the volcano, the route of which has evolved over time. Lava flows from the Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater (which is also part of Kīlauea and hosted another lava lake between 1983 and 2018) have notably buried some old sections of road under thicknesses of lava sometimes reaching 35m! 😮
The hike the day before with John (unforgettable, to the top of Mauna Loa, but rough, on very abrasive terrain, which we had finished a little dehydrated) 🥵 really blew my legs. But for now it's going down! After a passage in the forest (quite dense), we cross several lava flows, more or less recent, and we pass on the edge of several craters (well yes... hence the name of the road!). There are even a few " nēnē " barnacle geese 🦆 (endemic species of Hawaii).
From the panorama that dominates the Pacific by several hundred meters, we can clearly distinguish the flows that have enlarged the island with each new eruption. The road then plunges towards the ocean: there is no more forest, and it blows... really hard! 💨 Uncomfortable with the curved gravel handlebars, I have to stop in the final part of the descent to relax my fingers. 😵 I still end up finding Luke and Clarence, and we go along the sea to the final barrier, shortly after the Hōlei marine arch . It is at this level that the asphalted part ends: the road that previously continued to the village of Kalapana fell victim to the lava flows. A track has since been rebuilt, however, and it is possible to continue in gravel (until a next eruption?), but Luke and Clarence are on road bikes: so we turn back.
I pay a little for the efforts of the hike the day before in the (re)climb to the Kīlauea Visitor Center (1210m) , but Luke is regularly waiting for me. We had planned to continue by the Mauna Loa lookout road, but the rain intensified, ☔️ it's not very hot, and Luke seems to have a small misplaced injury 😬 ( "a moment of pain" , you will say -il, in reference to our previous adventures )... so we'll leave it at that for the day! 😉
Hawaiian Bike Adventures :
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 1/4: Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 2/4: Chain of Craters road (Kīlauea)
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 3/4: Mauna Haleakala
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 4/4: Waimea canyon
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