Unlike Tasmania, where we did not have a well-planned itinerary on arrival, we had our act pretty well together for the Big Island. Not really due to any great discipline on our part; it was mostly the result of nightmares about showing up in the rain and not having a place to stay, and not wanting to spend $150 - $200 / night plus food for a place to stay. We had our camping gear with us, and because of concerns about campsites, we had made reservations at county parks for three of our five nights. Unfortunately, we wanted to spend the first two nights in Volcanoes National Park, and they don't take reservations. Our plan was to more or less circle the island in a clockwise direction.
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| Big Island Route |
When planning our trip we had assumed that since the Big Island was part of the United States, and people went camping in the U.S., that we would have no trouble picking up a bottle of fuel for our stove. However, once we were in Hawaii at Dona's sisters and I went on-line looking for fuel canisters, I couldn't find any place on the Big Island that advertised them. There was only one store listed for anything related to camping, and that was the Hilo Surplus Store. They're at 148 Mamo St., easy to get to from the airport. They sell a stove that works off the tall canisters used for propane torches, so we figured if necessary we would just buy another stove.
Our flight to Hilo on the Big Island got in about 11:00. Our plan was to grab the rental car, run to the surplus store for fuel, then load up on groceries, and make a bee-line for Volcanoes Park so we could get a camping spot. It was raining when we arrived, as expected...
We needn't have worried. The surplus store had all varieties of fuel bottles. If we could have gotten our MSR whisperlite on the plane (The TSA idiots in Missoula were afraid the fumes from the plunger would blow up the plane, and consequently wouldn't let me take the stove.), they had fuel bottles and coleman fuel. Instead, we had Sid's ultra-light MSR stove that takes a screw-on canister, and they had those. They were out of the large and medium sizes, so we picked up three of the small ones. They also had some Mountain House freeze-dried dinners, so we picked up two of those to fill out what we didn't have with us as left-overs from Tasmania.
There was a small grocery just down the street, and a farmers market. So we got the food end of things finished up in the pouring rain, then headed up towards Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. After a few days in the park we headed southwest, down to the coast, where we stopped at Punaluu. Dona's nephew Ram Papish had recommended we stop there, as it has a nice black-sand beach where green turtles often haul out for a rest. We continued from Punaluu down to the extreme southern end of the island, the southernmost point in the United States . After a long day, we camped that night in a somewhat run-down county park in the village of Milolii.
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| Volcanoes N.P. | Punaluu | South Point | Milolii |
We had great snorkeling and tidepool playing around at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, a National Historical Park; got stalled for a while in Kialua shopping, which was fun and not too damaging on our wallets; and then boogied up to the north end where we had great camping and great food. While we were up there we hooked around to the end of the road on the east side and hiked down into the Pololu Valley, one of my favorite spots.
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Kialua |
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| Pu'uhonua O Honaunau | Kialua | North End | Pololu |
We left Pololu and wound our way back around, up and through the Kohala ranch country, a windy place with a lot of grass. When we got back to the east coast we stopped to gaze into Waipio Valley briefly, but didn't have time to hike. Pooey! Our campsite that night was at Laupahoehoe Beach Park, a great place with some interesting history -- it was devastated by a tidal wave in 1946. From Laupahoehoe we took in Akaka Falls before heading down to the Tropical Hawii Botanical Garden the next day.
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| Kohala Ranch Country | Laupahoehoe | Akaka Falls | Tropical Hawaii Botanical Garden |
On our last day, our first task was to drop a box off at the Post Office to mail home; we had packed up our masks, fins, and snorkels to send home. Otherwise, we wouldn't pass the cheap airlines' weight limits.
Rant On U.S. Airlines are one of the most transparently devious operations I know of, They claim they are restricting baggage because of high aviation fuel costs, when in fact they are just trying to suck as much money as they can out of their passengers. If they were seriously focused on weight, they would have a fixed weight allowance for a passenger and baggage. It wouldn't matter how you divided it; the plane doesn't care. Pounds is Pounds. I get really annoyed when I can only bring fifty pounds and one bag and the 300+ pound football player who overflows into my seat has the same allowance. Why can't I carry an extra 155 pounds on the plane the way he is? If a little old lady gets on who weighs 90 pounds, I don't have any problems with her having more luggage than I do. I don't care what the allowance is, I just want it to be fair. For all I care, they could charge by the pound starting at zero. Rant Off
Anyway, we dropped our bundle at the post office on the road up to Akaka Falls, as we had seen it the evening before on our way up there. We gave the post mistress our extra fuel cans and a few other items we couldn't use or bring back with us on the plane, as she knew someone who could use them. And on the way out we saw a cool Anole.
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| Anole |
After we left the botanical garden, we ambled back towards Hilo, turning off to explore some of the numerous parks in the valleys along the coast. They all had their own little stream with waterfalls, and the valleys were covered with heavy foliage, usually with blooming Tulip trees.
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| Roadside Park Waterfalls |
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| African Tulip Tree |
And that was about all we got done on the big island. We dropped off the car and caught the plane back to Honolulu, then LA, and Salt Lake, and Missoula.
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This page last updated on 2013-10-23.
