Hawaii’s Big Island hosts some of the worlds most impressive lava tubes. We could not visit the Island without exploring such an interesting geological feature.
This lava tube was surprisingly accessible during our visit. The parking lot was directly across the street of Kaumana Dr. (near the 4-mile marker) and only a 10min drive from Hilo. The above image shows the entrance to the Eastern (right side, if walking down the stairs) tunnel entrance to Kaumana cave. We chose to go East, as the cave seemed larger and we could not find an immediate entry point on the Western side. Although the descent seems steep in the picture, the park has provided very sturdy stairs with hand rails that granted us easy access to mouth of the cave.
As we descended into Kaumana’s twilight zone, we were greeted by curtains of roots that hung eerily through the ceiling. They appear inoffensive, until they brush against the back of your neck and send you running and squealing hysterically.
Once you are inside it’s pitch black, so don’t forget to bring some flashlights. My rule of thumb, is to always bring a back up, in case the primary light fails you will not end up stranded.
Although the parking lot and stairway seem relatively pedestrian, once you are in the cave the floor is pretty uneven with a few shallow drops and chasms. There was nothing extreme, but there is always potential for injury if you are not paying attention.
In other areas, you may have to crouch really low to clear certain overhead obstacles.
In some areas, ceiling breakdowns created loose rocks and rubble on the ground. Remain vigilant to not lose your footing.
The cave was full of nooks and crannies that curious adventurers couple explore.
HARDCORE PARKOUR!
We always appreciated spacious passageways, as they had a lot more headroom.
The further we went the more the walls seemed to close in around us. Although our backs could have used a break, our enthusiasm drove us deeper and deeper into the cavern.
Eventually we could not squeeze ourselves any deeper, so we took a cozy little break to share a few creepy stories before making our way back towards our entry point.
We found some very intriguing rock formations along the way. In some areas, it appeared as though ceiling was melting.
Even way back in the dark zone of Kaumana, life finds a way. The Caconemobius varius or Kaumana cricket is a vulnerable insect that can sometimes be found in these tunnels.
Another strange geological formation. Although it looks like soft melted wax, it was rock hard.
It’s insane to think these tunnels use to be subterranean lava canals that carried magma all the way from Mauna Loa.
Although it felt like I could’ve stayed down there forever, there was something comforting about seeing daylight in the distance.
Kaumana cave was supposedly created during an 1880-1881 sequence of eruptions originating from Mauna Loa (25miles away). These lava flows threatened to burn their way right through Hilo. Fortunately though the volcanic activity slowed and eventually stopped, thereby sparing the town. Modern surveyors estimate that accessible sections of the cave are approximately 1500m long, however some spelunkers claimed to have explored the caverns for up to 5 miles. Since we only explored one side of Kaumana, we probably only traveled 700m one-way (more or less).
Although the big island has many lava tubes you can visit, this one seemed to be the most accessible to me and it was free 🙂 Next time we will have to investigate the Western cave entrance (pictured above).
For other fun adventures around Big Island, check out: Akaka Falls, Lava Flows and Mauna Kea.