When we visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in March of 2016, we couldn’t pass up the chance to camp there. Kulanaokuaiki is one of two drive-in campgrounds on park land, but the other (Namakanipaio) was closed while we were visiting. When we camped at Kulanaokuaiki it was free, but since November 2016, the park is charging $10 per site.
To get to Kulanaokuaiki, we entered the main gate to the park and turned left for Chain of Craters Rd. After a few minutes, we saw signs for the campsite and for Hilina Rd., where we turned right. We continued on for about 5 miles until we reached the turnoff for the camp parking lot.
When we pulled up to the campground, there were only a few cars, but several tents already set up. We were worried because we doubted we were going to get one of the 9 spots available, and we didn’t have a backup plan for where to stay that night. About seven of the tents were identical, and ended up belonging to a high school program. We continued past them, and found a spot where we thought we’d be far from any noise so we could all sleep peacefully.
By now we had fallen into a rhythm when pitching our tent and unpacking our supplies. This was our sixth night of camping on the island, so we knew exactly what we had to do. We no longer stumbled over ourselves trying to unfold the tarp or positioning the tent poles. Despite our new found proficiency, we had a couple mishaps at Kulanaokuaiki. The first problem was the wind. It was SO windy. I had to stand on the tarp while my husband went to collect rocks to hold it down. When we got the tent pitched, it almost blew away. We were camping on a lava field so there was no way to drive the stakes into the ground. We had to find a few more rocks for the corners of the tent, and position our heaviest items around the walls to give us room inside for our sleeping bags.
When we finally got our camp set up, we had a quick dinner of chickpea and avocado wraps. This is one of my favorite camping meals – it’s easy to make, requires no cooking (which means less gear to drag from the car) and it tastes so good! My toddler even loves them. After dinner, we still had some daylight left, so we went on a quick hike farther into the lava field. We climbed some hills to get a better vantage point, but there was nothing to see in any direction except more lava.
The other 5 campgrounds we had stayed at had all been pleasantly warm at night. Even at Isaac Hale Beach Park, where it had rained all night, we ended up kicking off our sleeping bags. Kulanaokuaiki was freezing. Even though I put on multiple layers, and went as far as to sleep in my coat, I was still cold and spent most of the night shivering. Fortunately my toddler, who is apparently a pint-sized furnace, fell asleep quickly and didn’t seem to mind the cold. I still decided to put his coat and hat on. I don’t think most people would struggle as much as I did with the cold. It was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but after living on Oahu for a year, I was accustomed to nighttime temperatures in the 70s.
Shortly after dark, some of the high school students returned to their tents. One of them had been knocked over by the wind, which was met by incessant shrieking and yelling. They finally quieted down, but not before waking up our toddler. He looked up at us for assurance that everything was okay, and then went back to his peaceful slumber. I stayed awake for what felt like hours, unable to relax my muscles in the cold. After finally feeling relaxed, I realized that I had to use the bathroom. After wasting about 10 minutes trying to ignore the urge, I finally forced myself out of the tent and across the campground. The bathroom is a vault-style toilet with a locking door. There was no light, and no running water. I usually have no problem with such conditions, but I was feeling particularly grouchy from the cold.
I made my way back to the tent and finally drifted off to sleep. Waking up was a much more pleasant experience than going to bed was. The glow of the sun peaking over the horizon was fantastic. The lava rock absorbed the sun’s rays, and the result was what looked like an ocean of deep reds and browns. While we were eating breakfast, we saw our first Nene! Just when we were starting to think that the Nene crossing signs were merely decoration, one came strolling down the path in our direction, looking for scraps of food.
The Nene watched us while we packed up our gear, and followed us as we hauled everything to the car. Occasionally it would run after campers, forcing them off the trail so it could pass by. Before we left, we gave our extra gallon of water to a woman camping nearby since we would be in a cabin for the rest of the trip. We left the park and headed to meet with some friends who were flying into Hilo that morning to spend a few days on the island with us. Luckily that night we would be able to get proper showers and wash our clothes.
The Voyaging 4 