After waking to an early alarm on Tuesday, 14 November 2023, I filled my daypack with everything I needed for my 10½-kilometre around the rim and across the crater floor of Kīlauea Iki, which is a pit crater next to the main summit caldera of Kīlauea. It last erupted from 14 November to 20 December in 1959 and produced lava fountains measuring an impressive 580 metres (1,900 feet) high.

In writing the above introductory sentence, I have only just realised I completed this hike on the 64th anniversary of the last eruption!

The crater floor used to be forested and was twice as deep until that eruption. Now, it is a jumble of lava that smooths out in the middle of the crater, while in some places, that smooth lava has been pushed up and gives the appearance of gigantic, layered pieces of peanut brittle.

The drive from where I was staying to the Puʻupuaʻi Overlook (see map below) took about two hours. I set off in misty rain to begin the hike at 9:00. I followed the aptly-named Devastation Trail south from the parking area before making a sharp turn to join the Byron Ledge Trail, which took me north and straddles the main Kīlauea caldera and the Kīlauea Iki crater. This route took me around the Puʻupuaʻi Cone on the western side of the crater and the site of the main fissure during the 1959 eruption.

On more than one occasion, the magnitude of what I was doing sunk in, and I experienced a few big emotions. I don’t mean that it was a particularly difficult hike or that I was somehow special (millions of tourists visit Volcanoes National Park every year); rather that having researched the hike for By the Eye, By the Hand, the reality of finally walking in Imogen’s and Herd’s (fictional) footsteps was mind-blowing. The whole experience was very special and humbling.

I posted a few videos to my Instagram stories throughout the hike, which you can watch here.

The red line indicates the route I took, while the yellow line indicates where I retraced the trail to get back to my car.

The trail branched off, and I zigzagged my way down onto the crater floor. It was steep in parts, but the descent was aided by steps and rails, which I clung to on more than one occasion as the misty rain became heavier. Then I had to pick my way, guided by ahu (stacked rocks), through some rough lava before finding my way onto the much smoother and flatter crater floor. It was vast but shrouded in mist and rain, which did not ease during the entire hike.

I recommend clicking on the link above and watching those Instagram stories if you haven’t already.

The climb out of the crater was less steep but longer, and the constant rain had made the trail wet and slippery in parts, so I took my time. Once I was up on the rim, I followed the trail around the northern edge of the crater before rejoining the track where it had branched for the descent to the crater floor. Then, I headed back to my car at Puʻupuaʻi Overlook.

The route took about three hours altogether. If the weather had been clearer, I suspect it would have taken longer as I’d have stopped to take more photos and videos.

On the way back to Kailua-Kona, I realised Kaaloa’s Super J’s wasn’t going to be open for lunch because it was Tuesday, but malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) from Punalu‘u Bake Shop were a welcome compromise. I chose two traditional, two lilikoi (passionfruit) glazed, one apple-filled, and one vanilla cream-filled. I cannot begin to tell you how delicious they were. They were soft and fluffy and sweet with a sugary dusting. (I smashed a glazed malasada in the car before I even left the bakery parking lot.)

The Kīlauea Iki Crater Hike features in Chapter 12 of By the Eye, By the Hand, although in the book, it’s May rather than November, and the weather is clear.

CHAPTER 12 EXCERPT 🔥

From the parking area on the southern side of the crater, our seven-mile hiking route first wound its way along the aptly named Devastation Trail before emerging at another parking area and turning sharply to the right, where we joined the Byron Ledge Trail. The surroundings were bleak.
‘This is Puʻupuaʻi cinder cone,’ Herd began, gesturing to the right. ‘It was formed by towering lava fountains, estimated to be nineteen hundred feet when Kīlauea Iki last erupted in 1959. It lasted about five weeks. Before that, the crater was twice the depth it is today and was covered in forest. And see those gouge marks?’ He pointed. I looked. ‘They’re called slump scars and were formed when congealed splatter from the lava fountains broke loose and slid down, scraping and scratching those grooves into the semi-molten rock just beneath the cone’s cooling surface.’
The trail was then engulfed by rainforest. A gravel path crunched underfoot as we passed verdant ‘ōhiʻa, shrubs and ferns. Our eventual descent was eased by stairs and even rails in some sections. This part of our hike lacked conversation, the silence punctuated by bird calls. It was cool and misty, too, so the swish-swish-swish of our shell jackets occasionally synchronised and added an extra layer to the soundtrack of the walk, matching the rhythm of our footsteps as we zig-zagged our way down. The forest scents were fresh and organic and mingled with our fragrance of choice: insect repellent.
At the bottom of the final set of stairs, the crater floor opened up in front of us, desolate and dark.
‘Do you want to fuck me?’ The starkness of Herd’s question matched the landscape.
‘Yes,’ I answered without delay.
‘Even though I’m not in an open marriage?’
‘Your commitment to your wife is something for you to consider, not me.’
‘How is it so black and white for you?’
‘Because it’s part of who I am, part of who my husband is, and part of the last twenty years we’ve been married. We wouldn’t have lasted this long otherwise.’
‘If we do this, as two consenting adults, and then in a couple of weeks I attend your anniversary party, if I’m still invited, and Harrison shakes my hand and maybe even compliments my portrait of you, he’ll know I’ve been inside you? That I’ve tasted his wife?’
I felt hot between my legs. ‘I only let Harrison give me oral pleasure.’
Herd regarded me in surprise. ‘Is that one of the rules?’
I shook my head. ‘It’s my preference.’

Mahalo for reading!

All my aloha,

Rebecca x