Although our next adventure only took us to the beach, it was one we’d been looking forward to since we started the research for our trip. Most of us have been to your standard brown sand beach, or even a white sand beach. Some of us have even been to a black sand beach, which comes from eroded volcanic material such as lava. This particular beach, Papakōlea, is one of the rarest kinds, and one of only a handful in the world. It is a “green sand” beach, which was almost too weird to believe when I read about it. The green colour comes from the green glassy olivine crystals which are washed out of a 49.000-year-old cinder cone that spewed olivine-rich lava.

Everything we had read said to arrive early, and we made it around 10am. Even at that hour, the lot had a small number of cars already. The beach was a roughly three-mile hike from the parking area, across sandy, exposed, open country. Although there were locals who would drive you to and from for a fee, this isn’t completely legal, because the automobiles destroy the fragile volcanic, orange coloured, sand dune landscape. There were also tourists who would take their 4x4 rentals out there, but this wasn’t smart either. Aside from the legality, if you had a rental and got stuck, your insurance wouldn’t cover you as the rental company considered it “off road” driving, violating your rental agreement, resulting in hefty fees and fines.

We layered up with sunscreen, packed a bag with water, towels, and started off on foot. En route we met a pair of women (Indigo and Katia) and fell in with them for the trek. Originally from Alaska, they were on vacation before going back home to work as guides for the summer. The journey there was nice, and thanks to some clouds, and wind, the heat was non-existent. We finally arrived on the rim above the beach, where we stopped to enjoy the view. From that vantage point you noticed two things, the sand did have an unusual greenish-olive tone, and there were some large waves hitting the beach. Carefully the four of us threaded our way down the narrow path to the water’s edge and found a spot for our stuff before heading into the ocean.

The water was refreshing after our walk, but it certainly wasn’t calm by any means. Most of the waves were medium sized, but occasionally a larger one crashed on the beach, sending everyone scrambling to move their towels and gear. Once you were in the water you were better off as it was easier to manage the timing of the waves and maintain your balance. We floated in the surf before taking some time to relax in the sand. It really did have an olive tone to it, and was quite novel. Looking around the beach at the cliff walls you also noticed some of the weathered rock formations/striations, which were pretty cool. After a bit the sun came up, so it was back in the ocean before our walk back to the car.

The walk back was quite a bit less pleasant. The clouds had disappeared, and the temperature had gone up a good 10 degrees, making our hike across the sand and rocks a more of a death march across a moonscape rather then a hike. By the time we made it back to the parking lot, we were parched, exhausted, and sunburnt. The sweat which covered us provided a good base for the orange wind-blown sand to stick to. If it wasn’t for the heat from the sunburn, you couldn’t tell by looking where the sand began and the sunburn ended. Needless to say, we cranked the AC in the car on the way back to the hotel for an ice cold shower and a drink.

Our next adventure on this trip was to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. We were pretty excited about this one, since neither of us had ever been that close to a semi-active volcano. The day we drove to the National Park to see the crater, the air temperature was around 32°C/91°F, completely appropriate for the location. The sun was blazing down as we walked to the overlook for some pictures. The crater area was massive, and you could see wisps of smoke rising from deep within. You really got a sense of the scale of an eruption as we looked across to the other side.

Since it was a two-hour drive, we weren’t just going to tour the visitors center and take a short walk. We decided to hike down the crater on the Kīlauea Iki trail. The hike took you from the crater rim, through the jungle down to the floor, which was a pit crater and former lava lake crossed by a 4-mile marked hiking trail…and it was even hotter on the crater floor. By the time we made it, we were drenched with sweat, cranky, and exhausted. The landscape was pretty wild at the bottom of the crater floor. It looked like a frozen lake of because of how the lava flows cooled. The view was impressive, and I would make this hike again…but on a day when it was a not as obscenely hot.

The next day we were shot…completely exhausted from two straight days of hiking and driving in the car. We were so exhausted we actually chose to do nothing but sit on a beach, so we went to Hāpuna Beach State Park. This beach was an easy 40 minute or so drive from our hotel and is the classic “Hawaiian” beach from a postcard, with white sand and crystal-clear water. We arrived early, around 9 a.m., staked out a spot in the shade of some rocks, and proceeded to alternate between swimming and lounging in the shade. We spent most of the day there, doing nothing of consequence aside from recovering, only leaving because the sun eliminated our shade.

On our way back to the hotel, we took a short detour stopping at Puakō Beach, which looked out onto Puakō bay. There we found some shaded trees to doze off underneath for about 40 minutes before heading back to the hotel. Another nap was something that wasn't hard to manage with this scenery and the sound of the water.

Later on, while we relaxed at the hotel, we reflected on the amount of hiking we’d done so far. We had easily hiked more on this trip then on any other we had been on. The crazy thing was, we still had a few more days in Hawai’i!