Tree Molds and Kipuka Puaulu Trail, Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/14/2026	1.1 miles	55 minutes	157'	1.5 mph	94.6

Parking: 

• Pukapuaulu Trailhead

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• National Park map 

Directions:

• This is a lollypop hike. Take the trail from the parking lot, and when it splits take the left spur. Hike in a loop. When you finish the loop, keep left/straight to return to the parking lot.

Our next stop of the day was to visit a stop with tree molds. These are holes in the ground surrounded by lava where trees used to grow. Not a hike, just a short stop.

We then continued on to a hike close by called Kipuka Puaulu Trail. This is an easy hike with what is considered older growth vegetation surrounded by a more recent lava flow from Mauna Loa.

A tree mold

Just a pretty piece of reticulite

Many hikes require you to clean & spray your boots 
to prevent the spread of the fungusʻŌhiʻa Death.

The loop trail

The vegetation here looks very different from what we've seen before.
It almost reminds me of NC or NY.

Enormous fiddleheads

Hairy Bird's-foot-trefoil

Scarlet Pimpernel