It was very dark as we pulled into the parking lot of the visitor center. There was a brick ledge over looking a spot of bright light in the distance. It was the fiery glow of an active volcano. From where we stood, it didn't look much bigger than a typical campfire, but we read it was actually bigger than a football field! Most of our days had been so cloudy. For a brief moment that morning, though, it finally cleared, and we saw a glorious sky filled with stars.
Only one other couple decided to brave the early morning. As time went by, I could see why Derek had wanted to get there in the wee hours of the morning. It didn't take long for the sunlight to start peaking through the clouds. Bit by bit, the glow dimmed until all we could see was the smoke rising from the opening. Then, we headed back to our room to experience the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast.
The wife of the Korean couple who owned the place came to our sliding door with a tray filled with baskets of food, plates, utensils, a pot of coffee, and orange juice. There were croissants & a collection of fruit- some I recognized and some I didn't. There was one fruit that looked like large grapes with peels. We didn't take the pit out a first- Derek declared them edible, but after tasting, I had to disagree.
It was relaxing to have breakfast bought right to our room, but I did miss the chance to interact with other guests. After we rested, we headed back into the park. Visitor Centers are always good places to start. We joined a group for a quick orientation to the area. They had a three dimensional model of the land.
It was a gloomy day as far as weather was concerned...overcast and raining on and off. Thankfully, it was just a steady drizzle most of the day so we at least weren't stuck inside. First, we drove to a couple interesting spots. We saw a little section of fenced off land- a pit with natural steam vents. We could feel the heat emitting from them. My glasses kept fogging over!
We headed towards one of the main trails. This one traveled way down into a crater then across the bottom and back up. The path down the sides had lush rainforests and muddy puddles to get around due to the continuously drizzling skies, but they allowed a great view down into the crater itself. The path had a steep grade and switch backs.
Once we reached the bottom, the mud turned into rocks and our tree canopy protecting us from wind and rain disappeared. We came to a couple steep stone staircases which thankfully had railings embedded in the rocks. We met up with a mother hiking the trail with her young son. They actually had a guidemap with information on the trail marker numbers we passed occasionally. We then made the journey across the wide gray crater while being pelted with raindrops. The hosts at our bed and breakfast had lent us old purple umbrellas that morning. Unfortunately, one of them later broke. The crater had a very other worldly environment- pockets of vents, very little earth or vegetation- all rock. Eventually, we made it to the other side and began the trek of endless switchbacks back up.
It felt good to finally return to the car. We decided to find shorter areas to explore which led us to a lava tube. We followed a paved path to a set of stairs leading down into a cavern. The tubed cave looked as if it had been made by the burrowing of a giant worm.
According to the visitors guide, the park had a long road you could drive down that had a number of lookout stops and such, so we took the car in that direction. We drove passed a lot of lava as well as signs indicating the year that each particular flow of lava came from. We parked the car a couple times to look around. We even caught sight of a beautiful rainbow at one of the overlooks.
Unfortunately, the gloomy weather made the idea of continued exploration less appealing. We decided to forgo the ancient rock drawings for a future visit, so we turned around and drove back up the road.
That night we had a Thai dinner- the only other real meal option in the area.
