Page 741 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

H A W A I‘I  739

q Hilo w Pu‘uhonua O
Hōnaunau National
* 45,000. ~ @ Kamehameha Ave,
near Mamo St, (808) 961-8744. n Historical Park
BIVB, 250 Keawe St, (808) 961-5797.
_ Merrie Monarch Festival (Mar or Hwy 160, off Hawai‘i Belt Rd (Hwy 11).
Apr). ∑ gohawaii.com/bigisland Tel (808) 328-2326. Open 7am–8pm
daily. & 7 Visitor Center:
Although it is the state’s second Open 8:45am–4:30pm. Daily
city, “rainy old Hilo” is a contrast orientation talks. ∑ nps.gov/puho
to sunny, urban Honolulu.
The city’s progress has been From the 11th century on,
checked by nature – rain falls social interactions were
278 days of the year, and two regulated by the kapu (taboo)
destructive tsunamis pounded system, and even minor
Hilo in 1946 and 1960. The city infractions, such as stepping
has since retreated from the on a chief’s shadow, were
Thurston Lava Tube, formed by the sea, turning the waterfront punished by violent death.
hardening of a lava stream area into enormous parks, while Lawbreakers could, however,
the rain has made it a natural escape punishment by
East of the park, the Kīlauea Iki garden, full of orchids and reaching a pu‘uhonua (place
Overlook gives a view of the anthuriums. Hilo’s population of refuge). The greatest of these
crater, which in 1959 filled with is largely Japanese and Filipino was at Hōnaunau, a 6-acre
bubbling lava, shooting fire in ancestry. (2-ha) temple compound
fountains 1,900 ft (580 m) into The downtown business dating from the 16th century,
the air. Across the road from the district, with its restored which offered absolution to all
crater, at the eastern edge of buildings, is worth exploring on those who could swim or run
the park, lies the Thurston Lava foot. The Lyman Museum and past the chief’s warriors. The
Tube. This huge tunnel was left Mission House vividly evokes a sanctuary was stripped of
behind when a subterranean bygone era – it is preserved as it power in 1819, after the fall of
river of lava drained away. An was in the 1830s, with Victorian the kapu system. Now partly
easy trail runs through the tube furnishings and artifacts. restored, it provides a glimpse
and a grove of giant ferns. On the Waiākea Peninsula, into precontact Hawai‘i.
Nearby, the short Devastation jutting into Hilo Bay, is the Located on a peninsula
Trail features ghostly remains of 30-acre (12-ha) Lili‘uokalani of black lava, whose jagged
a rain forest, wiped out by ash Gardens, landscaped in shoreline made it difficult for
falling from Kīlauea Iki’s 1959 Japanese style, while east of kapu-breakers to approach from
Hawai'i Belt Road Halema‘uma‘u Overlook affords high Rainbow Falls. The point is the 1650 Hale O Keawe
eruption. Farther west, the
the sea, the pu‘uhonua’s focal
downtown are the 80-ft (24-m)
Heiau, the temple that once
morning sun, filtering through
views of the once boiling lake
Crater Rim Drive Sandalwood Trail VOLCANO steams with sulfurous fumes. creates beautiful rainbows. the mana (sacred power) of
MAUNA LOA of lava. The crater below still the mist of the waterfall, often held the bones and therefore
Crater Rim Trail
The east side of Hilo Bay offers
great chiefs. Outside it stand Ki‘i
This is the home of Pele, the
goddess, who migrated from
impressive is the great drystone
at the James Kealoha Beach
NA'ALEHU VILLAGE fiery-tempered volcano fine snorkeling and swimming – wooden images of gods. As
HILO Kahiki (Tahiti) seeking a dry Park; and at the Richardson wall, 10 ft (3 m) high and 17 ft
place for her eternal fires. Ocean Park. (5 m) wide. Built around 1550,
Crater Rim Drive
KIL AUEA CALDER A Cra ter Rim Trail it separated the pu‘uhonua from
Hale ma'uma'u Trail KIL AUEA Professor Jaggar (1871–1953) the palace area inland.
CR ATER Thomas A. Jaggar was a pioneer in the young science of volcanology.
A professor of geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Kilauea iki
Trail he founded the Hawaiian Volcano
K ilauea ik i Trail
Byron Ledge Trail Devastation Tr ail Observatory at Kīlauea Caldera in
Halem a'uma'u Trail Congress to preserve the area as a
HALEMA'UMA'U 1912. Four years later, he and Honolulu
CRATER publisher Lorrin Thurston persuaded
national park. Professor Jaggar
KEANAK AO'I developed techniques for collecting
CR ATER Chain of Craters Road volcanic gases and measuring ground
Crater Rim Drive
tilt, seismic activity, and lava temper-
Crater Rim Trail EAST RIST atures. The work he initiated has made
Kīlauea one of the world’s best under-
ZONE
Professor Jaggar on a boat trip stood volcanoes. The Hale O Keawe Heiau, a place of
spiritual power
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp744–5 and pp746–7
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