Hawai'i Route 11

Friday, 8/30/19

Yesterday we decided to take a trip around the south end of the island, stopping along the way with a final destination of Volcanoes National Park.

A handy tourist map of the Big Island

Route 11 runs around the south end of the island from Kailua-Kona (Kona, for short) on the west to Hilo on the east. The condo where we are staying is about halfway between Kona and Magic Sands Beach so we drove south on the low road (Ali'i Drive) to the junction with Route 11. That area is heavily developed with resorts, condos and private residences. There are frequent small signs on homes advertising "vacation rentals" and the occasional sign advertising property for sale.

From Captain Cook to the south end of the island there are many Kona coffee farms, ranging from a few bushes in front yards to larger fields alongside the road to large plantations stretching back into the hills. We also saw large macadamia plantations in an area running for ten miles or so that must be especially favorable for growing those trees.

Just before turning north up the east side of the island we stopped in Na'alahu for a pit stop and to visit the famous Punalu'u bakery.

Despite its small size, breads and sweets from this bakery are sold at stores throughout the island. We shared a sandwich made with their sweetbread (scrumptious) and a guava malasada, also very tasty, if a bit messy with the guava stuffing.

Fueled up with some tasty calories and restocked with water, we headed north.

North of Pahala we pulled off at a lookout and saw lava flows of various ages.

The dark lava in the foreground is from the 1907 eruption. the light colored lava with the sparse vegetation in the left foreground is from a flow estimated to be 750-1500 years old and the dark lava in the distance is from the 1837 flow. As you can see, it takes a long time for vegetation to reestablish itself on lava.

From the low point north of Punalu'u we slowly but steadily climbed to 4,024' at a point just south of the Kilauea Visitor Center. We stopped at the gate to the National park and told the ranger we were visiting the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) so he logged us in and emphasized that we couldn't visit the tourist areas of the park. Since we have been here a couple times before, I was happy to agree to save the $25 entry fee. In any case, the road around the caldera is closed just beyond the entry to KMC and the lookout points are restricted due to the danger after the eruption and caldera collapse last year.

We visited the KMC General Store (PX), gassed up at the little gas station and had a look at the cottages where we stayed in 2004.

I don't remember in which of the 20 or so cottages we stayed. I do remember it was pretty rustic.

 At about 4,000' elevation, it was quite comfortable in KMC. The car thermometer read 68 degrees compared to the 88 degrees we faced back in Kona. After a nostalgic visit to the area, we headed back down the road toward home.