**Animated Cover photo created by @jayasimha78 **
This is my third National Park Visit in 2021. Check out my post on my Memories National Park Series
I visited Hawaii National Volcanoes National Park in the first week of July 2021. I Stayed near Kona on big island, so it is almost 2 Hrs drive to Volcanoes National Park. In fact I visited the park twice during the this trip, on the second visit I ended up hiking the Kīlauea Iki Crater.
Volcanoes National Park is relatively small compared to Yosemite National Park, in fact half the size, 330,000 Acres VS 748,000 Acres. Also it was busy, but not very crowded. As of now there are no active Volcanoes in this National Park, 2018 was the last time when they had active Volcano here. Through out the park, you can see lava flows from various years.
Here are few key attractions I visited during this visit.
1. Steam Vents and Sulphur banks
Collage of Steam Vents and Sulphur Banks
2. Volcano House
Collage of Volcano House (A lodge and a restaurant with crater View) and also a gift shop inside.
3. Kilaue crater
Shot of Kilaue crater, There are several vista points on the rim drive to view the crater from various angles.
Another shot of Shot of Kilaue crater.
4. Kīlauea Iki Crater Hike
Shot of Kīlauea Iki Crater from the rim trail. Check out part 2 of this post for the details of the hiking I did. This was a great experience walking on volcano crater. You can see several people walking on the crater in this picture, who look like ants from the rim trail!
5. Holei Sea Arch
This is a 90 ft natural arch formation. It is around 40 minutes drive from Visitor center. On the way you can stop at several vista points to watch lava flows from various years.
6. Thurston Lava Tube
Check out my Part 3 of the post for the details on this Lava tube hike.
Terrain on the way to the Holei Sea arch
Fellow visitors capturing shot of coast line near Holei Sea Arch!
Shot of hills near Holei Sea Arch
