Big Island Action

A vast sea of cooled lava flows, some as recent as a few months. Acres and acres of black rock is twisted into bizarre shapes and encompasses surrounding towns, where you can see half-buried stop signs and remainders of houses that were in the path of the lava. You can climb over these flows, but be careful, as the rocks are uneven and bumpy. If you go towards the water, you may see the lava pouring into the ocean. In our case, the lava was rolling down the hillside.

In the park is Devastation Trail, which looks like a nuclear bomb exploded. It is "moon-like" in appearance, with dead trees scattered here and there.

There's also Thurston Lava Tube, an old, cave-like structure that once carried lava underground.

A book I found to be very helpful is the Book for Dummies Hawaii. I read this before going on my trip and it gave me a lot of valuable information.

Spectacular views of sheer cliffs meeting the ocean. You can take a side road off of Kukuihaele Highway to this lookout and park up top or go down (with a 4x4 vehicle) to the bottom of the valley. Up at the top of the lookout is a beautiful valley that overlooks the giant black cliffs that jut out meet the water below. You can make out waterfalls falling down these cliffs with binoculars. You can go swimming down below, but beware that it is a rocky, muddy trip down to the bottom of the valley.

A 420-foot waterfall falling through a lush tropical rain forest. This is one to see! I have never seen a waterfall as beautiful as this with all the lush green foliage and flowers surrounding this majestic fall. This waterfall is tucked away off of a mile-long trail, and it's well worth the trip (not like it's that long). This area is located north of Hilo, along the Hamakua Coast.