Devastation Trail & Overlook, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Notice that parts of the old road are buried under Pu'u Pau'i. Close to Kilauea Iki's fountaining the lava pumice cinders were hot enough to weld themselves together into a spatter cone, Pu'u Pau'i, which means gushing hill.

Further downhill the falling cinders had cooled sufficeintly to form a blanket of cinders. The Pu'u Pua'i Overlook provides a fine look into the Kilauea Iki Crater. The gray line you see on the crater floor is the Kilauea Iki Trail.

The Devastation Trail is a hiking trail that goes through an area that was once a forest filled with trees and greenery. It was destroyed in the 1959 eruption at the Kilauea Iki Crater and is still recovering. When walking on the trail you can see the transition from barren area filled with volcanic material, to a lush, dense forest full of life. It was quite a contrast! While walking on the Devastation Trail we saw a bunch of pits. There were yellow and red marks in them indicating the presence of sulfur and cider. The pits were created along a crack in the surface that was created during the Kilauea Iki eruption.

There were yellow and red marks in them indicating the presence of sulfur and cider. The pits were created along a crack in the surface that was created during the Kilauea Iki eruption.

At that trail you'll find a turn off to the Pu'u Pau'i Overlook. On most days the strong trade winds make it easy to see how the cone was built during the high (about 580 meters!) lava fountaining in 1959. Notice that parts of the old road are buried under Pu'u Pau'i. Close to Kilauea Iki's fountaining the lava pumice cinders were hot enough to weld themselves together into a spatter cone, Pu'u Pau'i, which means gushing hill.

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We stopped at the Pu’u Pua’i Overlook & Devastation Trail. There was a picnic table here under shade so we decided to eat our packed lunches. The weather was perfect for a picnic and it turned out to be a really nice, relaxing lunch. Just past parking lot, there is an overlook of Kilauea Iki Crater. There is a path that leads to Devastation Trail, which shows results of 1959 eruption on environment and you can see the base of Pu’u Pua’i. The entire trail is 0.5 miles but we only walked down it for about 5 minutes and was able to see the contrast between the pre-eruption forest and then barren dirt.