I spent the largest chunk of time in Volcano Village, next to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. That's right, I took a vacation to go to a place full of volcanoes in a rainy place. But it never gets down to 12 degrees there! Volcano Village is near 4000 feet, so at dawn (sunset: 5:30pm, sunrise: 6:30am), it might be as cold as the high 40s, with high in the 60s or 70s.
The park has a number of places where you can backpack in, sometimes to 3-sided shelters or huts. But I decided to travel light and only dayhike. It also means that I didn't try to go high on Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea - where it would have been cold!
The rest of the trip was in Hilo and Honokaa, where the high / low was more like 85 / 65. Oh to be wearing shorts and t-shirts in December.
Anyway, the entire trip was not hiking. You can see the entire trip report at http://www.deanmyerson.org/island-of-hawaii
Here I give some highlights of hiking amongst very fresh lava flows.
From the park Visitor Center area, the Chain of Craters road goes down to the coast in about 18 miles, where you can see the Holei Sea Arch
Just beyond is the spot where lava blocks the road, from a flow about a decade ago
There is also a short hike to some petrogylphs
I did the longer 14 mile RT to Napau Crater. About 2/3 of it is on lava flows following cairns and going by steam vents. Steam vents are just spots where rain water soaks down to rocks warm enough to turn it into steam. It does NOT mean that orange magma is right below.
A little bit further on is Makaopuhi Crater
Near the center of the park, and just next to Kilaeua, is Kilaeua Iki, which erupted in 1959. There is a popular 4 mile loop hike that goes along the rim and then across the floor, as you can see here
I also saw the highly endangered nene bird. I saw it numerous times in the park, but I guess most of those remaining live there
After some R&R in Hilo, I visited the amazing Botannical GArdens just to the north - tropical plants from all over the world
Akaka Falls has it's own state park. An interesting sidelight and of interest to the salmon obsessed is that there is a small fish called the O'opu alamo'o born in the highlands of the island that returns to spawn like salmon but manages to actually ascend these falls! They have a suction cup on their body.
The last place I visited was Waipio. Notice the trail on the other side. It goes 8 miles to the Waimanu Valley, another backpacking destination that I bypassed this trip. The road down to Waipio's bottom is a 4WD paved road, because it is a 25% slope.
Here's the start of the hike out, which is not quite as steep
And looking back, including the steep paved road
