Volcanoes National Park

Toward the end of your tour around the caldera, most guided tours will let you get out and walk the amazing lava fields,
representing areas of recent eruptions that are as desolate as the moon and covered in black lava.  Some of the lava is
ropy and smooth and is called pahoehoe lava.  The pricklier lava is called a’a lava and you’ll see that type, too.
Comprehensive guided tours of the Volcanoes National Park will take you to the Thurston Lava Tube—a tube created by flowing
and cooling lava that has been cleaned out for visitors to actually walk through.  Located among the rain forest area of
the island, the lava tube is both interesting and beautiful.
The highlight of most guided tours of the park is a trip to where the volcano is currently erupting.  At the end of a
winding road, visitors will be surprised that the road simply quits due to recent lava flows.  You can walk along areas
of land that didn’t exist even five years ago.  If you go toward evening, you’ll begin to see areas of glowing where lava
is bubbling out of the ridge next to the lava field and rangers have a telescope so you can see it up close.  They don’t
recommend that visitors get close to the unpredictable lava, nor can one go too close to the ocean shelf as it has been
known to break off unexpectedly.
In the end, many guided tours of Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park will offer you an experience you will never forget.
You’ll learn a lot about volcanoes and see some amazing scenery.