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The Traveler on the Big Island of Hawaii

April 11, 2006

Hiking in Volcanoes National Park
-Or-
I Thought You Brought the Map

“The wind rattled the shutters outside the rain-spattered windows of our little room on the second floor of Volcano House, finally settling down toward sunrise. The perfect quiet just before dawn. I roll over and wonder what hike to take…”

I am being manipulative in starting this modest essay entitled as it is, implying that once again I’ve managed to get us lost, or otherwise imperiled in some quirky twist of plot line;

“Boy, if we ever make it out of this alive, it’ll make a hilarious story….”

I can hear certain readers slap their foreheads upon reading the title;

“He’s going to get them killed!”

You know how you are.

While it is true that we didn’t have a map, we never lost the trail. It’s just that there are so many trails.

So what starts as a tentative two or three mile hike to test the condition of the trails, with little anticipated elevation change, turns into a seven or eight mile, caldera traversing, crater crossing, ridge climbing (three times, don’t ask me how that happened), heart-pumping trek.

That’s the way it is at Volcanoes. One trail leading into another, all calling, beckoning – come hither, ragged hiker – and off we go down another path leading into the rainforest.

Before we know it, we’ve hiked down a steep hairpin ridge trail at the bottom of which we’re spat upon an open sea of lava, long since cooled, making it much easier for me to write this account.

Hiking across the Kilauea Iki crater, we gasp our way up the other side. Reaching the top I am certain that we’re getting close to home.

Then came a fork in the road.

“Logic, be damned…”

Turning left instead of right I take a stand and off we go into the enchanted forest, now becoming wetter as the misty haze becomes raindrops.

Thinking the sign saying the trail to Volcano House was one way and then not believing the sign had anything to do with me is a burden I must bear, as it is to those whom choose to follow.

(Please see “turtles, tourists, signage, and the Man” for more information about this phenomenon)

I can say that the two miles of extra hike that decision cost us was beautiful, though by this time my stomach had began to gnaw at the substantial layer of fat I have for just such occasions. Theoretically I should be able to go without eating for weeks, although it has already become a pain in my gut.

The last tenth of a mile had an elevation change of a thousand feet, or perhaps by then it was just the delirium talking.

“I” – gasp –“will never” – gasp –“go on a hike” – gasp, gasp – “ever again…”

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And now I sit inside our little room on the second floor of Volcano House; listening to the rain spatter the windows and the wind rattle the shutters.

I’m wondering what hike we should take tomorrow.

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