Exploring Hilo
14 January 2007
We just finished another round of coffee picking so we decided to take the
day off and go to Hilo to for some geocaching. We have already
found almost all the geocaches on this side of the island but there are
still a few left on the Hilo side. We made a list and headed off
to find them.
Kona is on the leeward side of the island so it is generally much
drier. Hilo is on the windward side of the island and receives
the bulk of the rain. Even though it was bright and sunny here in
Kona all morning, we got plenty of rain while in Hilo. The rain
didn't stop us though.
The first geocache we looked for was hidden in a large banyan
tree. It required some climbing to find it. The complex
root and trunk structure of banyan trees makes them fun to climb.
The large hanging roots are also great for Tarzan impersonations.
Our next stop was a nearby lava tube. This is a 25 mile long lava
tube formed by an 1881 lava flow from Mauna Loa. The flow came
within 1 1/2 miles of Hilo Bay before Princess Ruth arrived from
Honolulu. She went to the lava flow where she spend all day
praying to Pele and that night she slept in the lava's path. By
morning the lava had abruptly stopped. Modern science can't stop
lava flows but apparently Princess Ruth's prayers could.
The lava tube is blocked and collapsed at many points along its path
but at this particular sky light it is possible to explore the cave for
two miles before hitting a blockage. We did bring a flashlight
but after a few feet we decided we've been in enough lava tubes so we
turned around to head for the next geocache instead.
In the park next to Hilo Bay is a very large banyan tree. It
really is quite an impressive tree, much bigger than the previous
banyan tree we had climbed. This tree takes up a good portion of
the park and hidden somewhere amongst the complex root structure is a
tiny micro cache. We knew this was going to be a difficult
geocache to find so we brought our lunch to the park and had a picnic
while looking for the cache. We even used our flashlight to
search the dark crevices. It was no use though, after a couple
hours we had to give up. Maybe next time we're in Hilo we'll be
able to search some more.
Our final stop for the day was at Rainbow Falls. Other than the
fact that it was raining, the falls were perfect. Just enough
water that it was fun to watch but not so much that it was a big muddy
mess. Our GPS led us along a trail to the top of the falls that
we never would have found otherwise. We also discovered a
magnificent swimming hole. Too bad it was rainy and cold.
We'll just have to come back on a warm, sunny day.
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