Kilauea Iki Trailhead, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Nice loop trail that is manageable for a wide range of physical conditions. We followed conventional wisdom and went counterclockwise, which took us through the forest along the rim and then we descended down more stairs. The walk along the lava lake is fun and filled with diverse geological features. We had a nice breeze to stay cool, but bring water. The ascent took us to the lava tubes and then we took a last .5mi trail to where we parked. Parking does get tight, google also overshot the entrance to the lookout, enter the parking lot .1mi before google says otherwise you’ll have to loop around a few miles later.

Best trail in the park. Not even close. One of the best hikes I’ve taken in any national park. So if you do only one thing in the park, make it this. Hike starts off, admittedly, kinda boring. You walk along the rim, but with the vegetation you only get passing views of the crater. But about a mile in, you start descending into the crater and the hike becomes absolutely awesome. We combined this trail with Thurston Lava Tube. If you do that, it’s right at 4miles round trip. HIGHLY recommend going counterclockwise on the loop.

If you’re like me and only have about 3/4 hours to spend here then I would highly recommend this trail. It’s an easy 3 mile loop and saw tons of kids on the trail. Not difficult- maybe easy to moderate just because of the steeper stairs and the number of switchbacks. We went counter clockwise so we parked the walked the half mile or so to the lava tunnel (careful there were lots of giant puddles) which I think was better, although when we were walking through the crater- half way through I think we missed a turn and went straight through the broken lava rocks instead of hanging left. That was a bit challenging and definitely not for families with small kids (teens would like it). It took us about 2 hours to do lava tube and the trail so definitely bring a snack!

The hike was beautiful and educational. Just need to be sure to start to the right as you are looking at the caldera. Download the map of the trailand follow along to each numbered spot to learn about what went on during the last eruption. Really cool.

If going to lava tubes try to park in this parking lot and take this easy hike down. The lava tube parking is very scarce and not worth ticking off other people by holding up the traffic when you could have parked and walked this beautiful .5 mile trail down. Great views of the hike across crater bed. Heard that one should be started early bc sun beats down on you and should do it counterclockwise.