Afternoon at the volcano national park

Hilo is a 1 hour FREE bus drive away from some magnificent craters. Travelling on the afternoon bus I join a full bus of commuters off back to rural settlements (the public transport here is loved and heavily used). There are only two tourists on board (most seem to hire cars instead ;)) but we arrive after a pleasant ride to the visitor centre at the volcano national park (entry fee for pedestrians $5). The staff here are excellent sources of advise concerning what to see and do while you are there and it is the best place to get up to date information on safety concerns including recent activity and SO2 levels.

After speaking to the park warden I decide to complete the crater edge walk and steam vents track. Both turn out to be well marked with wonderful volcanic features including sulphurous vents, steaming rocks and solidified lava flows. While walking along the edge of the crater I suddenly realised the shear potent power of the volcano I was walking on - the crater is enormous, the crater edges are as high as a 10 story building with shear sides leading to a steaming/venting crater floor - AMAZING site. But I feel insignificant - if it was to erupt I would not even have time to notice!! Stunning…
Well worth a visit - but I was only here for 2 hours as the bus left back for Hilo at 5.50pm… (If you want to spend a day in this prehistoric landscape then take the 5am bus to the national park, which will give you 11hours). Wonderful and another site not to be missed if you are on the big island of Hawaii.