Description:

This trail meanders through a recovering Hawaiian forest following inundation by 1959 cinder eruptions. Skirting the more recent 1974 lava field, the trail opens up to a volcanic landscape dotted with tall, mushroom-like lava trees. While admiring Keanakako'i Crater, you'll glimpse across the road where an overlook provides panoramic views of the newly collapsed caldera floor, exposed sulfur banks, bluffs, steam clouds and Mauna Loa in the distance.