Pele's Revenge

Pele is an angry god, and she's throwing her weight around through the volcano known as Pu'u 'O'o. Come, visit the beating heart of an active volcano, and make peace with Pele.

This hike is strenuous. The trail is muddy, rain is likely, and slippery tree roots will attempt to trip you up. You might get lost, the heat is terrible, and huge cracks in the ground can swallow you whole. Do not attempt this hike unless you are an experienced hiker. Allow plenty of time for the hike, bring lots of water and snacks, and make sure someone knows where you'll be.

Break-ins at the trailhead are common, and when I did the hike, broken glass from busted in cars littered the ground. Leave nothing of value in your car.

If you are prepared to face all these obstacles, you're in for an adventure. To get the trailhead, take South Glenwood Road between the 19 and 20 mile markers (closer to the 20) on Hwy 11 (20 miles from Hilo, 95 miles from Kona). From the highway it's about 3 1/2 miles. The road becomes gravel the last bit, but continue straight when the main road veers off the right to the trailhead.

The trail is straight-forward for the most part, crashing through the rain forest to the edge of a sea of hardened lava. There is one tricky part when I was there where it appears as if the trail splits in two, and I almost got lost on my way back when I took the wrong path. Blue ribbons marked the main trail, but that could have changed by the time you read this. Orange ribbons also marked the main path, but they continued on the lesser used path that I followed a short way into the wrong direction. Pay attention!

When you reach the sea of hardened lava, you'll be looking at the back of the active volcano. Look for steam and smoke rising off the far side. A warning sign suggests it is a bad idea to continue any closer to the volcano. From that sign, hike 90 steps at 330°. You might have to walk around rocks and such—it's hard to walk a completely straight line on this terrain—but do your best. You should end up near the northwest side of a large depression in the lava. You'll know you have the right place if the Pu'u "o'o summit rim is at 140°, the warning sign you sited your compass from is at 30°, and a tall snag is at 190°. By the time you read this, the snag could have fallen, and even the summit crater could have moved. This is, after all, an active volcano! I doubt the warning sign will have moved, although if it's overrun by lava (a real possibility!), the box would also have been overrun with lava and you'd never find it anyhow.

The box is hidden under a ledge of the depression, there on the northwest side of the depression, covered with a pile of rocks. Please do your best to maintain the letterbox, replace the Zip-locks, and whatever is necessary since this box is orphaned. Also, let me know if you found it! I'd love to hear about your adventures finding this box. =)

On another note, this is a very long, very strenuous hike. And there are about one million places in the lava where you could hide a letterbox. Do so! Do not let the fact that my box is there discourage you. I'd love to see this area fill up with a hundred or more letterboxes so you could just poke around in holes randomly looking for them. That may never happen, but hide a box out here. There's plenty of room for a lot of them within 100 steps of the warning sign, and for such a long hike, people really deserve more boxes than just mine. *nodding*

Hike Length: 8.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 500 feet