Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park: Kīlauea Iki

On By nationalparkswithtIn Hawaii1 Comment
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Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

Aloha➢

My family and I took a cruise around the Hawaiian islands in 2019. We embarked in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. Prior to embarkation, we spent a few days on land and explored Oahu. Using Hilton’s Hawaiian Village as our base, we enjoyed visiting many interesting sites before boarding the Pride of America. We spent a week on board cruising the Hawaiian Islands. Our first port of call was Kahului Harbor on Maui.

After Maui, we sailed to the big island of Hawaiʻi. On the big island we had two ports; the first was Hilo. At the port, we met our guide from Roberts Hawaii. He took us to Volcanoes National Park where we visited the Volcano House, the steam vents, Kilauea Iki and Chain of Craters. We stopped at Big Island Candies on the way back to port for some goodies. Back at the port, we hopped into a taxi to go to Rainbow Falls and Richardson’s Black Sand Beach.

Kīlauea Iki is a crater next to the main summit caldera of Kīlauea in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the big island of Hawaii. This crater was a lava lake in 1959 with fountains spewing molten lava up to 1900 feet in the air. This activity lasted for several months until the fountains fizzled out in November of 1959.

Today, visitors can view the crater from the Kīlauea Iki Overlook. There is no longer molten lava here and the crater is vast (though compared to the main crater, it’s small or ‘Iki’.) It’s a mile long and 400 feet deep.

The 2018 eruption and its accompanying earthquakes damaged the Kīlauea Iki Trail. It was still closed when we visited, but partially re-opened the week after we were there. Hikers can now descend to the crater floor, parts of which are still warm to the touch.

Hilo Posts➢

  • Volcano House
  • Steam Vents
  •  Kīlauea Iki
  • Chain of Craters Road
  • Big Island Candies
  • Rainbow Falls
  • Richardson’s Black Sand Beach
  • Mokuola

Location: 1 Crater Rim Drive, Volcano, Hawaii
Designation: National Park
Date designated/established: August 1, 1916
Date of my visit: April 16, 2019

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