USA Guide
Hawaii
Kilauea Caldera
The main focus of the park is Kilauea Caldera, the summit crater of Kilauea, twenty miles up from the ocean. Close to the rim, on the eleven-mile Crater Rim Drive, both the visitor center (daily 7.45am–5pm; $10 per vehicle; 
808/967-7311, 
www.nps.gov/havo ) and the fascinating Jaggar Museum of geology (daily 8.30am–5pm; free) offer basic orientation. Kilauea is said to be the home of the volcano goddess Pele, who has followed the "hot spot" from island to island. When Mark Twain came here in 1866, he observed a dazzling lake of liquid fire; since a huge explosion in 1924 it's been shallower and quieter, a black dusty expanse dotted with hissing steam vents. Enthusiastic hikers should set time aside to follow the long trails that explore the caldera floor. Both the Halemaumau Trail, a seven-mile round-trip, and the Kilauea Iki Trail, a total of five miles, involve picking your way from cairn to cairn across an eerie landscape of cracked and jagged lava.
Among shorter routes, the mile-long Devastation Trail is a boardwalk laid across the scene of a 1959 eruption. Most of what you see is new growth – fresh lava is full of nutrients, and rainwater and seeds soon collect in the recesses – but a few older trees survived partial submersion in ash by growing "aerial roots" some way up their trunks.