2 Days in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with Kids

Believe it or not, the main reason we planned our family trip to the Big Island of Hawai‘i wasn’t to spend time at the beaches, it was to go hiking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We love to visit beautiful tropical destinations with our kids, so when we found out that the Big Island was home to some excellent hiking, we were in!

During our two days in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with kids we visited every corner of the park and hiked on almost every trail. To help you plan your family visit, here is what we did during our amazing visit:

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Day 1 – Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park with Kids

Kīlauea Iki, Crater Rim and Halema’uma’u Trails

We began our visit with the best family-friendly hike in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We had stopped at the visitor center the day before and the helpful park ranger highly recommended this hiking trail for our family. This excellent family friendly hike strings together 4 separate hiking trails into a single loop.

1. Halema’uma’u Trail

We began our morning of hiking on the Halema’uma’u Trail. This trail begins near the visitor center and is a very enjoyable 1.3 km / 0.8 mile descent through an incredibly lush forest, with the sound of birdsong everywhere.

The trail ends when you reach the black lava floor of the Halema’uma’u crater. This is a very exciting location within the national park as it is where the active volcano is located. The trail takes you to the very far end of the crater, but it’s an enormous thrill to stand on the floor of an active volcano, seeing a massive steam cloud emerging from the volcano.

2. Kīlauea Iki Trail

Based on a recommendation from our park ranger, we continued on until the trail met the Kīlauea Iki Trail. The Kīlauea Iki Trail takes you right into the heart of another volcanic crater, which was once an enormous lava lake. Today, hikers can cross the remnants of the lava lake across the bottom of this massive volcanic crater.

We hiked the Kīlauea Iki Trail counter-clockwise, so we began our hike along the bottom of the crater through a field of big, jagged volcanic rock. I am always fascinated by the emergence of new plant life in such an inhospitable environment.

Eventually, the jagged rock gave way to an amazing expanse of smooth, undulating dried lava flow. Walking across the smooth bumps on this hardened lava, you can easily imagine what the lava lake would have been like.

A kind local stopped us to show us strands of Pele’s Hair – which are very thin strands of volcanic glass which are formed when a volcano shoots molten lava into the air. These strands of volcanic glass become airborne and can travel great distances.

3. Thurston Lava Tube

Upon leaving the crater at the far end, we entered the Thurston Lava Tube – a popular attraction within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The Thurston Lava Tube is roughly 300-500 years old and is a dramatic demonstration of the power of the Kilauea volcano. It’s a short, but very fun walk through the well-lit Thurston Lava Tube.

4. Crater Rim Trail

We returned to the visitor center via the Crater Rim Trail, which as the name suggests is all along the top of the crater. It was so cool to see the dried lava lake from above, after having just hiked through it earlier. Also amazing was the views of the steam cloud from the Kilauea volcano, which seems to be growing bigger as the day goes on.

Kilauea Lookout After Dark

After dinner at our vacation rental, we hopped back in the rental car and drove back to the national park. Our destination was the Kilauea Lookout, in hope of seeing the volcanic cone glowing red in the dark. According to the NPS, an eruption was imminent within the next 72 hours.

As it turns out, the Kilauea Lookout is actually too close to the Halema’uma’u Crater to actually see the eruptive cone, as the cliff gets in the way. But, not all was lost. In the dark, there were several hot spots on the crater floor that were glowing red.

I’m not sure if the glowing red lava was residual lava from the eruption which ended 3 days prior, or simply lava that was close to the surface. Either way, it was a really cool sight to see glowing lava in the dark at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park!

Day 2 in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with Kids

Crater Rim Trail

After exploring the eastern side of the crater the day before, today we explored the western side. The best way to see the western side of the Halema’uma’u Crater is along the Crater Rim Trail.

You can join this Hawaii Volcanoes National Park trail at many points along the way, but to get the most exercise and to see the most scenery, we started it at the visitor center. The hike begins in the same beautiful, lush forest as we thoroughly enjoyed the day before on the Halema’uma’u Trail.

Before long, the hiking trail meets up with the crater rim and stays there for the duration of the hike. There was a misty rain during our hike, but even so, we could enjoy really good views all the way across the Halema’uma’u Crater.

Less than 0.6 miles / 1 km miles into the Crater Rim Trail hike, we passed our first steam vent. Any sign of thermal activity is always exciting! You can feel the heat of the steam and the smell of sulphur as you stand and take in this geothermal experience.

As it turns out, there are lots of steam vents along the Crater Rim Trail, really adding to the thrill of hiking near an active volcano in Hawaii!

Venturing further along the Crater Rim Trail, it’s fun to watch the vantage point change. Early on, you can see the Halema’uma’u cone completely, but as you get closer, the cliffs start to block the view a little. The surface of the Halema’uma’u Crater floor changes quite a bit too, and you can even see spots where it has started to cave in a bit.

We hiked all the way to the Kilauea Lookout, which we had visited in the dark the night before. It confirmed our suspicion that you can’t actually see the volcanic cone from this lookout. The views across the entire crater are amazing as always though.

On the way back to the visitor center, we left the Crater Rim Trail to walk along the Sulphur Banks Trail instead. The Sulphur Banks Trail passes through another area of geothermal activity, but this time, the steam escaping the ground has left sulphur on the surrounding rocks, leaving them the distinctive sulphur color.

Hōlei Sea Arch

It took about an hour to drive the entirety of the Chain of Craters Road. The Hōlei Sea Arch is the destination at the very end of the scenic drive. This rock arch is made of lava rock and is a worthwhile, if not quick, stop on your tour of the Chain of Craters Road.

Pu‘uloa Petroglyphs

Working our way back up the Chain of Craters Road, our next stop was to see the Pu‘uloa Petroglyphs. This short 1.2 mile / 2 km mile walk is primarily through a field of wavy, dried lava flow, with wild grasses growing sporadically wherever it can.

At the end of the hiking trail, there’s a circular wooden boardwalk where you can see the Pu‘uloa Petroglyphs. Sometimes petroglyphs are hard to find, but not here – they are literally everywhere you look along the boardwalk! It was a ton of fun finding them and guessing what they represent.

Towards the end of the hike, there’s a bit of a climb through a dense forest to a couple of viewpoints. The first is an excellent viewpoint of the massive lava field, and the second is of the Pu’u Huluhulu Cinder Cone itself.

So, we set our alarm clocks for 2:45 AM! We had prepared a lot of stuff the night before, so we were all in the car by 2:55.

It was pitch black with hardly any highway traffic at that hour. As we passed the highway junction for the Mauna Kea Observatory, we pulled over to admire the brilliant stars in the sky for a few moments. Amazing!

We pulled into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at 4:45 AM. As we neared the Steam Vents parking lot, the sky was glowing an eerie red. It was incredibly exciting!

The caldera was nearly filled with a massive lake of glowing red lava from the past 8 hours of the eruption. Between the fountain of lava shooting from the earth, to the lava lake below, this was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen.

We walked up the pathway for a while, enjoying different vantage points. We then got in our car and drove to the Kilauea Observation Deck. The lava lake was much closer from here, but we were too close to see the lava fountain.

All told, we stayed here for about 75 minutes watching the Kilauea volcano erupt. It was so exciting, it felt like 5 minutes! We stopped watching the Kilauea eruption around 6 AM when it started to get light out. As it turns out, we were incredibly fortunate, as the eruption ended around 9:00 AM!!

The moral of the story is, no matter where you find yourself on the Big Island, if Kilauea is erupting, make sure you go right away. Do not miss this amazing sight!!