Chanced upon by Captain Cook in January 1778, Hawaii remains one of the most intriguing and spectacularly beautiful environments in the world. With active volcanoes, verdant valleys, spell-binding trails and stunning cliffs, the Big Island remains a place for the adventurous to visit, and one of the outstanding national parks in the land - Hawaii Volcanoes Park - remains among the most dramatic.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which includes Mauna Loa (13,680 ft) and Kilauea, but not Mauna Kea (13,796 ft), is absolutely compelling: You can explore steaming craters and cinder cones, venture into the Wao Kele O Puna rainforest, and, at quiet times, stand yards away from where eruptions pulsate. The park includes desert, rainforest and arctic tundra. What was once a prized beach area is now awash with lava flow. Towns, resorts and properties lie buried as this wonder developed. Kilauea Caldera is the park's headquarters where you'll find the visitors' center and fascinating Jaggar Museum of Geology.
Enthusiastic hikers should set aside enough time to follow the long trails that explore the caldera floor, now mostly solid. Both the seven-mile Halemaumau Trail and five-mile Kilauea Trail involve picking your way from cairn to cairn across an eerie landscape of cracked lava. Shorter routes involve the mile-long Devastation Trail, which developed after the 1959 eruptions destroyed all vegetation in the area.
Chains Crater Road is worth driving along - follow its windier path from the Crater Rim. Be careful as constant gushing lava covers newly laid concrete to regain the road path. This is an adventure and must be planned prior by contacting the visitors' center. The end road is a 50-mile trip with no services along the way. It's certainly worth it, though , when glimpse molten rock gushing from the earth. Wahaula Heiau - a temple where human sacrifice may have been introduced into Hawaii - is also a beautiful site of echoing history.
Pay a visit to the 450-foot Akaka Falls, just north of Hilo, which are encompassed by mountains and a loop trail through forests, wild orchids and other tropical waterfalls. Or head over to the Waipio Valley in the Kohala northern region, offering the only accessible land out of the six valleys located in the area. Finally, the 50-mile Saddle Road cutting from Hilo to Kona provides outstanding views of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, although it's decisively dangerous with its winding sharpness and no facilities. Stay away at night as the dense fog cloaks the area, and be daring during the day as you witness the volcano's liveliness.
This tidbit of real travel advice was contributed by Richard Elliott.