January 21, 2016
Day 11: Volcano: Desolation Trail
Now that we are on the windward side of the mountain, we can expect more or less daily rains. But today there was a kind of precipitation that we do not often see. It was a mist just like from a plant mister. Not a fog, but a mist that does not actually make you wet, sort of. It must be just what the plants love.
Volcano village lies on our way into the National Park, so we passed the three general stores that are there: Kilauea General Store, Volcano Store, and Ace Hardware. We have an interest in knowing all these, because we are still looking for an affordable bread. As we arrived in town, there was the Love's Bakery truck, delivering their overpriced and low quality product to each of the three. All the breads that were not $9 were $6.79, it seemed. But at the Ace, we somehow spotted some that were $3.99. Wow, a bargain! Still from Love's, so is this lower than low quality? No matter what, we snapped one up. But at the checkout they wanted $4.49 .
"Oh, well, price must have gone up. Do you still want the bread?", asked the couldn't care less cashier. Ÿes, but for the marked price", said Dodie. I was just about to launch into a lecture about the Canadian Code of Scanner Conduct which would have been preceded by an exposition on when scanners were introduced, the cost and re-pricing advantages to retailers, and the risks of mis charging the customers. Fortunately for everyone around (including Dodie, who would have had to listen to all this), a manager stepped up smartly and knocked the 50 cents off. So now we are the proud owners of a loaf of "Paradise Fresh", "King Size" "Golden Wheat" bread. We haven't tried to actually eat any of it yet.
Back at the crater rim, we had the opportunity to review what's where in this area. We begin with Mauna Loa, the big mountain in the background. Mauna Loa's summit is at 13,679 feet (4169 meters). The last eruption from there was in 1984. Earlier it had erupted in 1926 and 1950, destroying villages, and in the 19th century even Hilo was threatened. But the real action and the big tourist deal is Kilauea, which sit on the flank of Mauna Loa at just 4000 feet.
Kilauea had had a respectable volcano type dome, but this collapsed some time ago (1790, we think) leaving a large caldera. Inside the caldera is a giant crater, called Halemaumau has erupted repeatedly and which currently contains a red hot lava lake. Then in another corner of the caldera is Kilauea Iki, the caldera from a giant explosion that occurred in 1959. Downslope from the caldera is a "Chain of Craters", and then there is the vent Puu O'O, from which have issued numerous flows that have entered the sea, and which last year threatened the town of Pahoa.
Our main area of interest for today was Kilauea Iki, but we began with a look at the "Sulphur Banks" on the edge of the caldera, This is an area where cracks in the ground emit volcanic gases. The gases are rich in sulphur, which is deposited by the vents. In addition the gases cause chemical changes in the rock, so there are other kinds of minerals around as well. The vents are hot and deep, so it is not a good idea to fall in. Don't worry kids, we stayed on the boardwalk!
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Between the Sulphur Banks and Kilauea Iki lies the visitor centre, the Volcano House hotel, and the Volcano Art Centre. The Art Centre is housed in the building that was the original Volcano House. This was built in 1877 on the edge of the caldera, to accommodate the scads of tourists who were attracted to see the Kilauea eruptions. The current version of the Volcano House hotel was built on the caldera edge around 1940, and the 1877 building was moved across the street, becoming the Art Center in 1976.
The Art Center was a revelation for us. We have seldom seen such an impressive display of beauty and skill in the fields of photography, wood work, pottery, glass blowing, painting, and jewellery. The themes are generally related to the natural environment, and the materials are often local, such as the koa wood. We are not really 'art" people, but we just loved this place.
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When Kilauea Iki blew up, there was a huge fountain of fire and ash that buried the land and built a cinder cone down wind. Today you can walk down across the former lava lake and you can walk up behind the cinder cone. We walked the cinder cone way, which is called the Devastation Trail. There is one certain dead tree there that just says "devastation". I took a picture of it 30 years ago, and I see it on the Park's poster. We like this famous tree. But it is also interesting to see the extent (or not) of recovery in the 65 years since the cataclysm.
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The Devastation trailhead is disconcertingly downhill from the visitor centre, so we had to crawl up a windy road to get back up. Along the way a giant tour bus came along, but the driver carefully held back until it was safe to pass. Our last stop was the Thurston Lava Tube, at the top of the hill. We caught up to the tour bus there, and Dodie went over to thank the driver for his consideration. This turned out to be the best part of our day, because not only was the driver of this bus considerate, but he was wonderful in other ways. In fact the bus contained more than just this one great person.
It began as we chatted with the tour guide, a Japanese man living in Hilo, who was supplying the narrative to the all Japanese tour group which was travelling in the bus. From this man we got a good account of what type of people were on the tour (rice farmers, some Toyota workers, some retirees up to 80 years old), and what their itinerary was. They had flown in from Honolulu very early this morning, after this it would be the Macadamia nut factory and then to the Hilo airport to fly back. Whew!
While we were talking to the guide, the driver came over and gave Dodie a cross he had just crafted from a form of reed. He said this would be protective for our further cycling. He then sat down, as the tour group went to do its thing looking at the lava tube, and began to weave a bowl or basket.
Meanwhile I was asking the guide about where the group had stopped for lunch, and the answer was the Imiloa Planetarium in Hilo (we are going there too!). The driver picked up on this, and pointed out that 'Imiloa is a Hawaiian word that means “exploration driven by a sense of wonder and imagination”. He then began to tell the story of how his grandma had recounted the voyage of his ancestors by canoe from the south. He described and named the stars they followed and he discussed a method of sea water filtration with bamboo and sand, used to survive the long voyage. After that he also told the story of Ohia and Lehua, all the while weaving his basket.
This had gathered a small crowd, including many of the Japanese tourists, now done with the Lava Tube. Among these was a little girl from Wisconsin. who was listening with rapt attention. The driver noticed her and sent Dodie back to the bus to bring some more reeds (or were they palm fronds?). Then he deftly made the little girl a fish figure on a rod. The tour group was by then eager to go, but the driver held them back to finish the thing for the girl. What a nice man!
The mist had intensified to pretty much rain, but we had had a great day and set off back to Volcano village. We stopped in the village at a Thai food truck which we had also been to yesterday. The quality was excellent, and we were interested to see that the "chef" had worked (complete with tall white chef's hat) at the Westin Copley Place in Boston. The man taking our order and money in front of the truck had a Boston accent, but I somehow failed to extract the back story from him. Sorry!
Back at our room we sat at the communal table and enjoyed chatting (for hours) with several of our fellow travellers. This included Martine, from Switzerland, and Ray and Cindy from Delaware. It was great fun, but tomorrow we will all scatter, to Maui (Martine), to Oahu (Ray and Cindy) and to little ole Pahoa (us).
Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 328 km (204 miles)
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