Distance: 2.5 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 3440'
Elevation Gain: 161'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.1
Round trip time: 1 hours 10 minutes
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: $30 National Parks Fee
Difficulty: Easy
Our second hike in Volcanoes National Park was Pu'u Huluhulu. It was the first summit on a very long trail where the floor is lava every step. The lava here came from an eruption of Mauna Ulu in 1969. There were places were the lava was broken or had collapsed into air pockets. It was genrally solid and 8-16" thick, though it occurred to me that it could collapse into other unseen pockets. Of course, it didn't and we enjoyed a mostly flat walk up to the summit. Like Kilauea-Iki, the trail was marked with large cairns of black lava rock. The trail continued for at least another dozen miles, but we were content to bag the nearest peak and turn around. A metal disc was on the summit with arrows to visible volcanoes. The smaller volcanoes did make me appreciate the size of Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa had been closed since it erupted in 2022. If we ever make it back, I'd really like to bag Mauna Loa.
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