Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and Papakōlea Green Sand Beach, Big Island, Hawai'i

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/15/2026	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	98.6

Parking: 

• n/a

Map:

• n/a

Directions:

• n/a

After a late night yesterday, today we had a more chill day.

We drove outside the park. First, we drove to a black sand beach. We saw dozens of sea turtles bobbing in the ocean.

Then we went to a green sand beach. This is one of only 4 green sand beaches in the world. You can either hike in 2 miles to the beach & hike 2 miles back, or you take a truck to the beach. You arrive at a parking lot, and there are some locals there that will take you. You just go up to them, ask the price ($25 round trip per person), and they'll tell you when to get on the truck. Some reviews said the hike was strenuous. We took the truck, but I have to say the hike would have been easy (except for the sun exposure). $25 seemed like a high price to drive 4 miles. That was until we actually did it. We timed the ride, and it takes 40 minutes to go 2 miles! It isn't much faster than hiking. A couple people can ride in front, and everyone else crams in the back of the truck. You ride standing up, holding onto a bar. It was a Ford F150. They drive you down very rutted paths to the beach. The ride is really fun, bouncing around, and getting to talk to other people visiting the island. The waves at the beach were very rough, but some people went in. I sketched from the shore. You don't really need that much time there, as the beach is small.

Someone told us about some cliffs at the southernmost point in Hawaii (and the US), so we took a short drive there and walked around: South Point Complex (U.S. National Park Service)

In the evening, although the volcano was flaming a bit, the sky was cloudy and threatening to rain, so we didn't do another night hike to view the volcano. 

Morning stop at Volcano House to check out the crater.

During the day, the flames usually aren't visible.

Lots of coconuts on this trip

The black sand beach has soooo many sea turtles.
It's hard to catch them when they stick their heads up out of the ocean.

We'd often see several at once.

Loading up for our ride to the green sand beach.

You have to take some stairs down to the green sand beach.

Our ride.

Climbing back up to the truck.

They squeeze us in

The paths to the beach have years of ruts.

A quick sketch on the beach

a

b

Cliffs on the southern point of Hawaii

e

f

Evening stop at Volcano House, when they always have a fire going

Old Crater Rim Drive, Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/14/2026	1.7 miles	1 hour	206'	2.8 mph	98.6

Parking: 

• Devastation Trailhead

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• National Park map 

Directions:

• Take the close off road to the end where there are 2 overlooks. Return the same way.

We returned to our cabin after our Thurston Lava Tube hike. The cabins have a shared bath house. We met another camper there who mentioned that the crater was glowing tonight. It's not the same as seeing lava, but I wanted to go! We went to Volcano House - they have a large monitor there where you can watch the crater up close - and see the flames very clearly. The front desk (so helpful!) could tell us which vent was pluming and where the best place to go to view it was. 

So, at 10 pm we left our cabin (it's very noisy when you drive out due to all the tephra on the ground). We got to the Devastation Trailhead, and we were the only ones in the parking lot. It was an easy night hike out to the viewing spot. Along the way, we listened to the coqui frogs. We heard them a lot in Hawaii. It's a beautiful sound, though locals sometimes complain they can be too loud. They are native to Puerto Rico but are actually an invasive species in Hawai'i. We had done this same hike the day before. We saw fire coming out of the volcano - we were told that it is most likely burning volcanic gases (not lava). Anyways, it was still one of my 2 favorite experiences from our trip. I didn't want to leave! The night sky was beautiful too - I love having the opportunity to see it when we visit national parks. My photos look like nothing - but the memory of looking into the crater and seeing it glow is precious. We got back to our cabin at midnight. A busy day!

Thurston Lava Tube, Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/14/2026	0.4 miles	12 minutes	57'	2.1 mph	96.9

Parking: 

• Thuston Lava Tube, Crater Rim Drive

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• National Park map 

Directions:

• Cross the street and follow the signs for the lava tube. It is a loop hike.

After visiting the sea arch, we decided to do a night hike of the lava tube. We had done this hike before, but we wanted to do it when the lights inside the lava tube go out, at 8pm. We got there a few minutes too early, but we did the hike anyways. The lights in the lava tube were still on. We had a group of people follow us - they also wanted to hike the lava tube, but they had no headlamps, so they hiked in and out using the light from ours. After the hike, we returned to our cabin.

Holei Sea Arch, Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/14/2026	0.6 miles	29 minutes	27'	2.6 mph	96.5

Parking: 

• Holei Sea Arch, Chain of Craters Road

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• National Park map 

Directions:

• Hōlei Sea Arch (U.S. National Park Service) 
• Follow the paved road to the sea arch on the right. 

After visiting the petroglyphs trail, we drove to the end of Chain of Craters Road to see the 90-foot Holei Sea Arch. On the way, we saw lava fields all the way down to the ocean. I sketched a little. Before we left, we decided to take some fun Instagram type photos, though I never post my hike photos on Instagram. Some younger people were humored by our attempts and started coaching us on how to pose. It was hilarious, and we laughed so hard.

Driving to the ocean