During the time that Trev had to work on Mauan Kea, I decided to camp over night in the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, home to active volcano flows. The first four miles of the hike to the campsite were on lava rock. The trail was marked by cairns. Can you find the cairn in this picture?

This is the blossom of the ohi'a lehua tree, which is sacred to the volcano goddess, Pele. According to legend, if you pick the blossom on the way into the park, it will rain. But it is permissible to pick them on the way out.

There was an abundance of 'ohelo berries growing in the lava rock. They are edible. The offering of fruiting branches of 'ohelo to the fire goddess, Pele, in the volcano area of Kilauea is a traditional Hawaiian offering to appease this deity.

The puffy white in the middle is a steam vent.

After 4 miles, the trail turns into a rain forest. This part of the park was hit by a lava flow in 1840, and over time this rain forest grew.

While in the rain forest, I became totally fascinated with these Dr. Seuss-like Hawaiian tree ferns.

The fern is budding.

The hike to the Napau campsite was 7 miles. (See Trev - I took very good care of your tent :) Elevation: 2600 feet.

Behold Pu'u O'o there in the background, an active crater. This was the view from my tent. I could hear her blowing steam. I hiked another two miles to the foot of Pu'o O'o to see active lava flowing. I would have pictures of that except I decided to hike there while the sun was setting and arrived in the pitch dark. It felt ominous to see the red of the lava against the darkness. I then had a little bit of a challenge trying to get back to my tent across a volcano crater in complete darkness. Let me just say the TracBack feature on the GPS was vital in this endeavor.

Sunrise the next day, steam crawling across the crater.