Rain and Hiking

I awoke this morning to what can only be described as driving rain.  I got ready, went to breakfast in the Hotel Restaurant. Still raining.  Read a book and caught up on email in the hotel solarium, still raining.  In fact I talked to my waitress at breakfast and the rain first hit yesterday afternoon to the West and apparently washed out the road near the Black Sand beach I went to yesterday afternoon.  Which was when I drove through there, apparently people canceled last night because they couldn't reach the volcano . . . so I must have just made it.  In fact, I do remember it starting to rain as I was leaving (see clouds in pictures).  Thank you lucky stars.

Anyway, around 11 I decided it was enough waiting and headed over to the visitor center and talked to a ranger.  My plan for the morning had been to do the 4 mile hike into and across the adjacent and slightly less active Kilauea Iki crater.  The ranger said it should be doable in the rain, so I went for it.  I bought a "weather-proof" jacket at the hotel gift store and set out.  Within 15 minutes my new jacket was completely soaked inside and out, my shoes were soaked and muddy, but the hike was fun.  On the bright side the rain kept down the crowds and it kept it cooler.  The hike was supposed to take 2-3 hours, I finished in 1:45 and even stopped in the bottom for a while to explore and took a mile or so side-trail to the Thurston Lava Tube near the top.  Unfortunately the rain kept me from snapping too many pics on my phone, but it was definitely worthwhile.  The lava tube was neat, but after the relative seclusion of the crater, I got claustrophobic with the endless line of tourists trying to access this relatively short trail with umbrellas (eye poking deices) in hand.

View of the Kilauea Iki Crater and trail from the rim (look closely, there are people down there).