Tour de Hawai'i - Stages 7 thru 12

Our story continues on a fine (drizzly) Tuesday morning, about 10 miles north of Hilo. Our intrepid travelers Leandra and Vitali have just strapped their packs to their bikes...

This post covers from north of Hilo to the southeast coast of the island -- just outside Pahala. We had about 15 miles to get to our next camping spot.

Vitali's friends had recommended we take a scenic route instead of the belt road for this portion of the ride -- and we were glad we took their recommendation. We crossed over from farmland to a more residential area as we descended towards the coast.

We followed a group of small boys on mopeds who looked like a trip to the emergency room waiting to happen. They seemed to be racing and showing off for us.

After awhile they disappeared and soon we were back in lush jungle territory, complete with gulches and even a small cascade emerging from a lava tube. I'd never get sick of riding through places like this.

It was mostly downhill the last few miles to Hilo, and finally we made it to the city proper. There was a row of historic buildings facing the water and development hugged the hill as it climbed up and away from the water. We stopped in a grocery store to stock up -- amazingly this store had other canned protein besides spam so we picked up some ham and turkey and even gluten free gravy. Boy were we in for a treat! We had to carry enough to get us through the next two days here, and then four days after that outside the national park.

Completely loaded up, we traversed the city and then rode through an industrial area, and then in to a more residential area. I had read about our accommodations online -- lots of people on the tripadvisor forums recommended Arnott's Lodge, which has a grassy lawn for pitching tents, in addition to dorms and traditional hotel accommodations. It was raining when we arrived and rained off and on the rest of the day.

We rolled in, took our forehead temperatures, and showed our vaccine cards. They took sanitizing everything extremely seriously -- they even provided anti-bacterial spray in the toilets for after every use. Overall -- the public health messaging and masking compliance on the island were a vast departure from some other places we visited this summer.

The camper and dorm area had an amazing communal area with washing machines, a sink, tables, and couches. The showers were hot and the toilets flush! We were living the life. Best of all, it was sheltered from rain. The owners were intrepid travelers too and flags and signs hung from countries around the world.

The lawn wasn't very large but we were the only folks utilizing it so it was nice. There was only one spot on it that was flat though -- and that's where we put our tent.

The lawn was also shaded by a very large lychee tree, its ripe fruit falling on the ground periodically, making a little thunk. We ate some that had already fallen and it was delicious. We remembered when we bought some rambutan on the side of the road in Mexico and Vitali adventurously requested dos kilos por favor! It was too much...

Later that afternoon we walked over to Carlsmith Beach Park which we read had good snorkeling, and also Onekahakaha Beach Park which had of all things, a horseshoe court.

We got into the water to snorkel but a storm was coming in and the water wasn't very clear so we didn't so much at all, not even a single fish...

We passed by a block party on the beach on the way back, where everyone looked to be having a great time, and even saw a truck with a Colorado plate! Once we were back to camp, we made dinner (rice and spam), and was treated to another spectacular sunset.

The next day we went to explore Hilo -- google maps told us to take the "mostly flat" route up to Rainbow Falls, so we did, and were surprised to see a Very Steep Hill on the last 1.5 miles...

We powered up the hill and made it to the park. The waterfall was beautiful -- although all of the water here is not the crystal clear water borne of glaciers or snowmelt. This stuff was brown, teeming with sediment and life.

We headed back down the hill, riding by a school that had a giant banyan tree out front. The school was buzzing with activity and it looked like parents were picking up information for the upcoming school year.

We stopped by a restaurant that was reviewed well on find me gluten free, the Booch Bar, which had breakfast, lunch, and kombucha. I had GF french toast (I was glutened), and Vitali had a breakfast plate with fish. It was pretty good.

We stopped by the grocery store again so we could shop together and then went to the farmers market where we picked up a white pineapple ($4/lb) and some mangoes. It was difficult to not buy all the fruits and vegetables...

We rode through Lili'uokalani gardens on the way back. There was a Japanese garden and giant banyans, and a few homeless people. All of the homeless people so far that we had interacted with had been very friendly.

There were also a few feral cats which were being fed by a friendly looking grandma-type.

We made it back to camp and bought some Bradda pops from the front desk, which are locally made freezer pops made in Hilo. These were made with real fruit juice and li hing mui, which we had never had before -- a type of plum. They were AMAZING!

We made dinner and ate our mangoes and pineapple, and then skedaddled once we were warned of 20 teenaged guests coming down for dinner shortly. We ate the avocado we found on the road at one point too, and it was delicious.

We saw these little yellow birds everywhere -- who seemed to always be paired but sometimes showed up in huge numbers. They are saffron finches.

The next morning we packed up and rode to Safeway and Walmart to pick up some lunch and our second tank of propane and then to the bus stop. We got there an hour early but we had a nice conversation with another passenger and the security guard who gets paid to sit there all day!

The security guard warned us this bus driver coming drove a tight ship! So he hoped for our sake that the bike rack was empty because she may not allow us to put the bikes under the bus...

The other passenger asked us if we had kids and we told him no; he told us his kids were Jehovah's witnesses and that they would have their children in the next life. I told him that was sad and he said "I know..."

Eventually the bus came and we loaded up, so thankful that we didn't have to climb the thousands of feet to our next destination, a cabin in the Fern Forest. The bus driver was what I would describe as a middle-aged Midwestern Soccer Mom, who took no prisoners. I told her where we were going but still she interrogated me. She even warned passengers to keep their masks on!

We disembarked at the Hirano store, which would be our bus stop for the next four days to get up to the park. We strapped our packs back on our bikes and set off, once again, in the rain. We noticed immediately that it was somehow even more humid than Hilo.

It was a short ride to the airbnb although it seemed an epic length the first time we did it. We'd have to ride this every time we wanted to take the bus to the park... It was 2.7 miles of paved hilly road, and then 2 miles of hilly gravel, rutted from the flow of rainwater. We grit our teeth as we road down it.

I booked this cabin because it was unbelievably cheap. After taxes and fees, it came out to $35 a night, for a place indoors with plumbing. That was cheaper than even the county campsites. Places in the park were going for over $100/night so it was a no brainer for me. Vitali however wasted no time to start complaining...

We rolled up to the address, came through the gate, and looked around. We had learned by this point that places that might look sketchy on the mainland were probably not sketchy here -- people just keep stuff outside and in the open, and sometimes piled up...

These folks had created two cabins -- one that housed three units, and a single unit by itself. Our cabin was #3, attached to #4, and #5. It was two stories, with the shower, microwave, "fridge", and dining table on the first floor, and the bed, toilet, and sink on the upper floor. It was... unique.

Connecting the floors was a ships ladder which violated several building codes. We overhead the owner telling his buddy -- "The trick is to just get things level and square. It's easy, I can show you." The floor joists were 2x4s. I checked the span tables and it looks like you can use 2x4s for that distance as a roof, but most definitely not as a floor. I don't know how this guy got a CoO and a hospitality license to operate this place? Nevertheless... we were fairly certain the building would not collapse on us and we were grateful to have a relatively dry place to lay our heads every night. There was only passive ventilation so it did get and stay quite humid inside.

We quickly learned that the humidity was so high in this area because the rain near constant -- and if something got wet, it stayed wet. So we wore wet clothing for the next four days and increasingly smelled not unlike wet dog...

The next morning we got up early, packed our daypacks, and rode out to the Hirano store to wait for the bus. Riding uphill on the gravel was... new. We had a routine - in the morning, ride, pick up snacks, wait, and then hop on the bus. It was always drizzling. My boots are waterproof -- but would get wet inside after being saturated. The pattern would go -- wet from the rain to the bus stop, then they would dry while we rode around at the park, then they would get wet again on the ride back to the airbnb and would stay wet until the next dry ride. Wet feet isn't fun.

Eventually the bus came but Vitali seemed to signal late -- and the bus continued right on past us and we panicked -- but it pulled over just beyond the store. Phew!

The bus ride up to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park was uneventful, and saved us another several thousand feet of climbing. We disembarked and waited in line for our stamp, sticker, and coin, and then waited some more while it rained. I had originally wanted to bike all the way around the crater but when I asked the ranger about the road that appears to go all the way around -- he said nope, that road has fallen in. So we left our bikes at the visitor center and walked to the end of the trail and back.

We also stopped by the Volcano Art Center -- which had art for sale from local artists. There were some cool things there but we had no way of carrying it safely so we left empty-handed.

We visited the geothermal area first -- the Sulphur Banks Trail, which had steaming rainwater escaping from the earth. The colors were reminiscent of Yellowstone.

There was also a lot of 'ōhiʻa lehua, red furry flowering plants that are some of the first to colonize fresh lava fields.

As we walked the rain gradually lifted and we started to see patches of blue! Would we get lucky and get some sunshine? Our first glimpses of Kīlauea were shrouded in mist.... but soon the vast alien landscape below revealed itself as the wind blew the mist away.

Hawaiian legend states that this crater is the home of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes. She represents chaos, destruction, and rebirth.

It was awe-inspiring, to see the act of creation laid bare. Kīlauea has been erupting almost continuously since 1983 to 2018, and in May of 2018 erupted so violently that the National Park closed for months. In that time period it destroyed hundreds of homes, buried roads, property, and beaches, and created new land. In December of 2018 the volcano ceased erupting.

In 2020 it erupted again, and stopped just in May of this year. It's been quiet since then. We wondered what would happen if it would suddenly erupt while we were there.

We walked back to the Visitor Center and decided to head home on our bikes, since the bus wasn't until 3:30 and we had seen all we wanted for the day. When we set off, it was misting lightly. By the time we were in the throes of the steepest parts of the downhill -- it was pouring rain. This was probably the most unpleasant ride of our entire trip. The speed limit was high -- 55, so cars were going by fast, the shoulders weren't huge, the rain was pelting us in our faces, and I was gripping the handlebars so tight that my thumbs were sore the day after. After awhile the rain had washed all of the burning sunscreen out of my eyes, along with every tear of lubrication. Half the time my vision was blurred as my contacts threatened escape. But, at least it was downhill.

Eventually we made it back, completely covered in road dirt, and were so happy to be able to take a hot shower, and then get in to bed and watch the olympics. Vitali cooked an entire package of OvaEasy for dinner, freeze-dried eggs, by accident. One package is equivalent to 12 eggs...

The next day, Saturday, we rode out to the Hirano store again to wait for the bus. When the bus pulled up... two bikes were already on the front rack! What would we do? Fortunately, this bus was a regular transit type bus (and not a coach bus like we'd sometimes get) and the driver let us bring the bikes on the bus and away we went.

We planned on riding a part of the Chain of Craters road today. We talked about seeing if we could hitchhike down and back up but after our experience the other day decided to just ride a few miles of it.

The Chain of Craters road goes all the way down to the coast (and drops 4,000'), passing various cinder cones, craters, and lava fields. The first portion wound through a really dramatically forested area with giant ferns (10' - 15' tall!). It seemed like we were going downhill really steeply which worried me.

We made it all the way to where we were going to turn around (7 miles down the road), and peered into a large crater. We decided to make all the stops on the way up, so we'd have built-in breaks.

We stopped at several more craters, some of which were almost complete in the process of being re-colonized by plant life, and also stopped at the Thurston Lava Tube. This was very similar to the lava tubes we visited earlier this summer, except this one was substantially wetter. We walked through it in near darkness, and out the other side.

We got back on our bikes and before long we had it made it back to the top! I can tell you exactly how long and how difficult a climb hiking would be based on grade, distance, overall gain and altitude -- but we had no frame of reference for riding, so getting back up with relative ease was a surprise. I thought it would be harder.

We realized that no busses ran on Sundays which mean we'd have to double up today and hike too. We combined the Byron Ledge Trail, Kīlauea Iki, and a portion of the Crater Rim. I wanted to do the Byron Ledge because it goes down into the larger crater of Kīlauea.

The trail first descended steeply into the main crater, and then traversed the edge of it. Lots of 'ōhiʻa lehua and broken lava that looked like asphalt pavement disturbed by an earthquake.

After a time, we ascended a bit and then entered Kīlauea Iki, a smaller crater next to Kīlauea, which was a lake of lava only 60 years ago.

The first portion of the trail was over lava that was ropy, jagged, and difficult to walk on. After a few hundred yards it changed to gently rolling mounds of smooth lava.

The trail traversed the entire crater and before long we were starting the ascent up the backside.

The trails had beautiful ambiance here -- shaded by giant ferns, dripping, alight with every kind of plant imaginable. Luckily, we did not encounter any giant centipedes.

Before long we were back on top of the crater and walking along the edge. The views from on top were spectacular.

We took a portion of the Crater Rim trail to connect back to the Visitor Center and before long we were back with our bikes and ready to wait for the bus to come at 3:30. The other folks who brought their bikes came after a bit to wait too.

The ride home was uneventful. Since there was no bus service on Sunday we stayed in our cabin and watched American Pie, American Pie II, and American Wedding.

This was my second rest day of the trip. Vitali rode to the Hirano store to get us snacks though. We were going through apple bananas at an alarming rate!

Monday was our last day in the cabin so we packed up for the final time, put on our wet clothes, and rode the bus up to the park.

We departed the Visitor Center and rode past the historic military camp on the way out and saw some nene! We had seen the signs to watch out for nene and nene crossings.

We also stopped to see some tree molds, where trees had survived the initial onslaught of deep lava as their internal moisture kept them from igniting instantly -- the lava would then cool but as the tree's moisture evaporated eventually they succumbed. This left behind a tree shaped hole in the ground which was not as exciting as we thought it would be.

Having gotten a good taste of the park with the time we had, we prepared for our long downhill ride to our next stop, Punalu'u Beach Park. We stopped at the park sign on the way down.

For once, it wasn't raining! We hoped that this marked the end of the wet side of the island. We had intermittent sunshine and cruised down the 30 miles and 4,000' back to sea level. We stopped by Pahala to get some more food -- this store even had canned chili which we used to supplement our stores of spam.

The area around Pahala was beautiful -- farms of some sort lined the roadway.

We left Pahala a different way than we came and rode down a steep road that was lined with more tree farms and a hedge-like line of some sort of evergreen. It was beautiful.

By the time we got back to the coast it had clouded up again. We rolled into the beach park and set up our camp in the black sand, made lunch, and laid around.

There was a pond behind the beach overgrown with some sort of water plant that had beautiful purple flowers. We watched a devoted husband photograph his wife posing for (legitly) 15 minutes with this as the backdrop.

After awhile a little boy told us we couldn't camp there, so we had to pack up and move a half mile up the beach to a grassy area.

That kind of sucked, since the black sand was very sharp in between, but at least we were close to the bathrooms now. We set up camp on a little bluff and had a much better view of the ocean. There was only one other set of campers here -- and they were far away in their forerunner.

We walked out on to the lava at the beach and watched the water break.

A storm threatened in the distance but it didn't rain.

I spent a bit of time taking photographs that evening while Vitali prepared our dinner of rice and spam.

The water interacted with the broken lava in very interesting ways.

And proved to be a delightful subject.

Eventually the sun set and after brushing our teeth, we looked up and realized how dark the night sky was. There was light from the bathrooms but after a few minutes our eyes adjusted and you could see the milky way unaided. There were a few wispy clouds too. This is an unstacked single shot.

Morning dawned, and while Vitali prepared (some more) rice and spam, I went and took some more pictures.

The sky was doing very interesting things. Very rarely have I seen purple in a sunrise or sunset, yet here it was, a soft lilac fading into 3 day old bruise on my butt purple.

Eventually the light warmed up to orange, and the sun broke the clouds. The air was thick with seaspray and light became solid.

I walked back over to some interesting lava with furry growths and watched as the sun lent its warm caress to the dark rock.

After breakfast we packed up and rode a short distance to the bus stop -- for once the stop was nearby.

We had waffled about this next portion -- originally I had booked a hipcamp in Ocean View, which is on the southern end of the island, but the camp is 1,000' down in elevation from the belt road. That means we'd have to climb back up after only one night...

So I did a little looking and found a different hipcamp named "Sheeps and Sunset Guacamole" that was further up the west coast. That would save us the 1,000' climb for no reason.

This meant we would take the bus from Punalu'u, avoid biking the Very Steep Hill in Waiohinu, and get off in Ocean View before riding to the hipcamp.

Stay tuned for the final part 3 of our adventure in Hawai'i in the next post!