Dora Liu

The pandemic kept me away from visiting my family in Hawai’i where I grew up. My annual trip was put on hold because of Hawai’i’s COVID-19 travel restrictions. When Hawai’i started accepting proof of vaccination to bypass the quarantine requirement, it was time to travel farther than the road trips I was taking from California where I live now. 

After visiting family on the island of O’ahu, my husband and I took a side trip to the Big Island before heading back to California. For months before my trip, I watched the Halema’uma’u eruption from the webcam on the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park website. I wanted to catch a glimpse of the lava glow in real life. Just my luck, the eruption stopped while we were in Hawai’i. We went to some of the suggested lava viewpoints at night anyway. I was not surprised when I saw darkness over the crater, but it was disappointing. I came all this way from California, waited two years during the pandemic to visit Hawai’i only to see a dark void where a wondrous glow should have been. 

Then, I happened to look up at the night sky. I could not believe my eyes. Stars! I have never seen the sky so crowded with stars. I can probably count on one hand the number of stars in the sky above at home in California. That night was a moonless night. I could see the Milky Way. Every constellation was probably visible, too. Sure, I wanted to see lava but the stars more than made up for the lack of lava glow. 

In addition to getting a glimpse of the eruption, I wanted to hike some of the many trails. Holoholo for the Holidays was Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park's hike challenge to get us visitors to explore off the beaten path.  The reward at the end of the challenge was a surprise gift. I was intrigued. Challenge accepted! We completed the four required hikes in three days. My favorite was Pu’u O Lokuana in the Kahuku Unit. It was about an hour’s drive from the main part of the Park. The landscape was so different from the rocky scenery that we left behind just an hour ago.  The green hills were spread out far and wide. I was still reminded that I was at a National Park of a volcano. Lava from the 1868 eruption was stark contrast to the green pasture. The Pu’u O Lokuana cinder cone, the main attraction of the trail, was amazing. I walked down the short path into the cinder cone. There I was inside of a volcano. I knew I was safe from it erupting while I was standing there, but it was a little scary knowing that under my feet was something that used to spew hot lava. 

The second trail that was memorable was the Mauna Ulu trail. I saw two nene geese at the trailhead. I was so happy. I have a bucket list of wildlife I want to see. The sighting happened as we were starting our first hike on the first day at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. What a welcome sight!

I’ve been to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park a few times before but I have never hiked these trails. I would have never checked off a nene sighting from my bucket list if it wasn’t for the Holoholo for the Holidays hike challenge. Although I missed the lava glow, this adventure gave me memories of new bird friends and the twinkling stars in the heavens.