Connecting Trails Reopen in Volcanoes National Park

Connecting sections of a popular trail in Volcanoes National Park will reopen today after undergoing repairs due to damage from a multitude of earthquakes during the Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse last year.

The 1.1 mile sections of Byron Ledge Trail and Devastation Trail that lead to Kīlauea Iki Trail provide hikers with views of the Pu‘u Pua‘i cinder cone, and three volcanoes (Kīlauea, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea) en route to the Kīlauea Iki trailhead on the west side of the crater.

The reopening also provides much-needed parking at the Devastation Trail parking lot for hikers wanting to experience the iconic Kīlauea Iki Trail. Parking is limited and often overcrowded at Kīlauea Iki Overlook. Accessing Kīlauea Iki Trail by parking at the Devastation Trail parking lot adds a 2.2-mile “cherry stem” to the four-mile loop trail for a total of 6.2 miles.

Additional disaster recovery continues in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park which sustained serious damage from the 60,000 earthquakes that shook Kīlauea between April 30 and Aug. 4, 2018. The park’s recovery progress is regularly updated on the park website at https://www.nps.gov/havo/recovery.htm.