Hawaii Spotlight: Volcanoes National Park

Hawaii aka the Big Island is the youngest Hawaiian island and the only one with an active volcano. I took the Kilauea Volcano Adventure Tour through Hawaii Forest & Trail. This was a convenient option for all of my family members because we had an experienced guide to drive us to the Volcanoes National Park and give us a tour. We learned a lot about lava and I was surprised at its diversity. Our guide showed us lava that looked like short strands of blonde hair and pieces that looked like shiny black tear drops.

Since our tours were during daytime, we didn't get to see the best views of the volcano. You can get the best views of any flowing lava during the night or in a helicopter ride. Night visits to the volcano can be quite dangerous because it's easier to fall on the sharp lava or end up in a more dangerous location due to the limited visibility. For that reason, a helicopter tour is probably the best way to see the volcano. During our visit, we did see steam flowing up from the ground and there were signs of heat in the kilauea crater. The road that was partially covered with lava was a reminder about the very real danger of an active lava flow.

Overall, I enjoyed seeing the Volcanoes National Park. It was my first visit to a national park and I learned a lot. Our tour guide seemed very knowledgeable and did a good job with the tour.

The only problem with our tour was that our group of eight ended up being split up. When I booked the tour, I made a reservation for four of us under one credit card and the other four under a different one. Despite that, the tour company thought that the second reservation was a duplicate and automatically deleted it! They showed up to pick up only four people and there wasn't enough room for all eight. However, they did discount the tour for everyone and the second group went on the tour the next day.

Kilauea Volcano Adventure - CLICK HERE!

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