On the island of Hawai’i near the town of Hilo, about 40 minute drive, is the entrance to the park. Once through the entrance you can either make a left you to towards Crater Rim Drive East. The east drive will take you to Kilauea Iki Overlook, then Nahuku (Lava Tube) followed by the Pu’upua’i Overlook. At the intersection of to turn right to the Pu’upua’i overlook you can turn right and go to the Chain of Craters Road. I did not go on the Chain of Craters Road. If after the park entrance you go straight the visitor center is on the right. You can take the Crater Rim Road West and it will pass the Kilauea Military Camp so if you are a veteran look into staying at the park in the cozy cabins. The West rim will also take you to the Volcano House, the hotel on the grounds of the park. Continue past the hotel turnoff and the military camp you will come upon the steam vents turn off. The turn off allows you view many steam vents from the crater floor or even a few vents just outside the parking area. You can continue onward to reach Kilauea Overlook and lastly Uekahuna. All of the stops along the way have views along the rim of the crater and are worth a quick drive through the park. There are many trails around the park for your hiking pleasure as well so don’t fear.
Crater Rim Trail – As the name says this trail will allow you to walk around a majority of the crater’s rim. The trail is an easy walk and is paved in some areas. There are multiple places to start your hike on the trail. One is just by the visitor center and after the Volcano house you can choose to go up to Uekahuna / Kilauea Overlook which is 1.6 miles one way. If you choose to go to the other direction you will have a 1.7 miles for your hike one way. The second direction will take you towards to Lava Tubes and is a fairly easy hike with much of the way being paved.
Kilauea Iki Trail – The trail allows you to walk on the Kilauea Iki crater floor and meets with the rim trail to allow a round trip hike. You don’t have to hike out the way you hiked in like me, a do do, and if you choose the loop it is either 0.5 or 0.4 down and the up is the other distance you did not travel down. The 0.5 end starts/stops at the lava tubes and you can park either at the Lava tubes parking or at the Kilauea Iki Overlook. If you choose the overlook then you have about 0.5 miles to get to the trail head. The way down has 6 switch backs and is a nice hike. The 0.4 has stairs to take you up/down and is a bit shorter so the preference is yours. Once on the crater floor you will walk 1.7 miles on a fairly flat hard lava surface. The path on the crater floor is marked with stacked stones / Ahu so please stay on the path. On the crater floor there are areas that the lava is small and look like rocks other places the floor looks like road pavement. The rocky area does have some elevation gain and loss but for the most part the hike is flat. It is amazing to walk on the floor of the crater so if you have it in you to walk down/back up it is worth the hike.
