Day 70 Hilo, Hawaii

It was still fairly dark when we arrived into Hilo this morning. The weather wasn’t looking too promising. I left on my Kilauea Hiking adventure around 8:30 this morning. It was about an hour’s drive to get to the Thurston Lava Tube where our tour started. The lava tube is quite large and it is amazing to walk through it realizing that lava once flowed through the same place that you are walking…. We then headed out to the Kiluauea Iki Crater for a 4 ½ mile hike across the crater and back up to the rim and returning. It was very interesting to me since the eruption here occurred here in 1959 when I lived in Hawaii. The showers made it a bit of a challenge from time to time for taking photos and trying to keep the camera dry. My foot throughout the day was a challenge, first to make sure I didn’t hit on anything, secondly to try and keep it dry and finally and unexpectedly to keep it out of the mud holes in our path…. The hike was good and our guide Joe was very informative. He was from New Jersey and he moved here 13 years ago. Listening to Joe I think he has gone native, he can never go back to New Jersey…… It was a good day despite the weather… Now we are headed to L.A. where this Grand Voyage concludes…..