Backcountry Adventures

Adventures in the Backcountry

For prepared and skilled visitors, the park offers wilderness experiences beyond the caldera's edge. These backcountry areas demand greater self-reliance but reward you with solitude and deeper connection to Mauna Loa and Kilauea's wild landscapes.

Think of the backcountry as levels of adventure, with each area presenting bigger challenges.

The Kahuku Unit is the park's best-kept secret, perfect for trying wilder experiences. This 116,000-acre area on Mauna Loa's southern slopes was once Hawaii's largest cattle ranch. Its landscape mixes volcanic history with cowboy heritage. Rolling green pastures dot ancient cinder cones and lava flows.

Kahuku is structured and accessible, making it a good backcountry introduction. It's on Highway 11 near mile marker 70.5, about an hour south of the Kilauea summit. The unit is only open Thursday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. There's no drinking water, so bring everything you need.

Trail Options for Different Fitness Levels

The Kau Desert offers intermediate wilderness challenge. Despite its name, this isn't a true desert. It gets too much rain for that. Its stark, desolate appearance comes from its location in Mauna Loa's rain shadow and acid rain from Kilauea's gases mixing with moisture. This acidic rain stops most plants from growing, creating landscape that Mark Twain called a "petrified sea."

For years, people believed these prints belonged to Chief Keoua's warriors caught in the eruption while battling Kamehameha I. Recent research shows many prints were made by women and children, probably traveling for everyday reasons. This adds a deeply human layer to the story.

Trail Information

Climbing Mauna Loa represents the peak of park adventure. This isn't a casual day hike. It's serious, high-altitude mountaineering that only highly experienced, physically fit, and thoroughly prepared backpackers should attempt.

Complex Permit Process

Severe and Potentially Deadly Dangers

The geological forces inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park don't stop at its borders. Kilauea and Mauna Loa's creative power reaches all the way to the ocean, shaping the dramatic Kau district coastline and forming some of the Big Island's most unique beaches.

Your park visit can anchor a broader regional journey, following lava's path from volcanic summits to ocean's edge. This creates a complete story where a trip to black or green sand beaches isn't just another stop, but the final chapter in the land creation story that began high in the park.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park works to welcome all visitors, regardless of physical ability. While the rugged, changing terrain presents challenges, the park is committed to improving access. Beyond visiting, there are ways to transform your experience from passive tourism to active care, playing a direct role in preserving this precious landscape.

Accessible Volcano Experiences

For visitors with limited mobility, planning is key to a successful visit. The park provides accessible facilities, trails, and viewpoints that offer powerful ways to experience the volcanic landscape.

Volunteer for the Land

For visitors seeking deeper connection to the aina (land), Hawaii Volcanoes National Park offers a "Stewardship at the Summit" volunteer program. This is your chance to move beyond observation and actively participate in critical restoration work.

A journey through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a journey through time, from ancient stories carved in stone at Puuloa to brand-new land being forged in Halemaumau's fires. This place demands respect and preparation in equal measure.

The ongoing construction shows the volcano's immense power to reshape not only land but also human structures built upon it. The eruption's episodic nature constantly reminds us that this landscape operates on its own schedule, following rhythms dictated by forces deep within Earth.

To visit here is to accept an invitation into Pele's domain. You witness a world in constant change, a place that's never the same twice. By arriving with understanding of the park's dynamic conditions, reverence for its sacred culture, and profound wonder, you can experience its full power.