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Getting Around on Hawaii

Driving

The Big Island of Hawaii has a public transportation system, the Hele-On Bus. For more information, contact the Mass Transportation System at 630 E. Lanikaula St., Hilo, HI 96720; 808-961-8744; www.hawaii-county.com/mass_transit/heleonbuss.html; or heleonbus@co.hawaii.hi.us Whether it can get a hiker to and from a particular trailhead at reasonable times is something I didn’t investigate.

Chances are that you’ll be getting around in a rental car, which you should arrange for well in advance of your visit. Ask for a modest vehicle in a drab color so it’s inconspicuous when parked at trailheads. Get a road map of Hawaii in advance, perhaps from one of the national automobile clubs if you belong to one. Even better, get the excellent “Map of Hawaii” published by the University of Hawaii Press. It’s good to be able to study the map in advance and have some notion of the island’s roads before you tackle them. Some of the maps provided by tourist bureaus are so cute they’re useless.

Driving conditions on Hawaii vary widely, and driving time can make serious inroads on your hiking time. The sheer size of the island and the layout of its roads makes it unreasonable, for example, to stay in Kona and to hike in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Plan to stay in or near the areas you want to hike in. This may mean changing lodgings. It’s worth the trouble.

Forget the silly notion that you can see the Big Island (or any of the other major islands, for that matter) by driving around it for a day. (It’s a great way to see asphalt, though.)

Hawaii Belt Road

Highway 19 arcs northwest from Hilo, and Highway 11 arcs south from Hilo. The highways circle the island to meet again on the west side at Kailua-Kona. They form the 221-mile Hawaii Belt Road. The Hawaii Belt Road is the island’s major highway. However, it is rarely more than a two-lane road. Your speed, nominally the 55-miles-per-hour limit outside of the towns, is frequently reduced to 45, 35, or even 25 miles per hour through the island’s many little villages. You also have to slow down on mountain curves as the road winds around the south side of the island. Slow-moving trucks and stops for road work further impede progress on the Hawaii Belt Road. And the island’s best scenery isn’t along the Hawaii Belt Road—though lovely Hilo and the spectacular Hamakua coast are exceptions.

Secondary roads

Other, secondary roads link the Hawaii Belt Road with some of the island’s finest scenery and hiking areas, particularly the Kohala Peninsula and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Don’t miss Highway 250 over the Kohala Mountains and the special hikes it leads to. The Chain of Craters Road arcs through the Kilauea area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, sometimes allowing drivers to bypass a section of the Hawaii Belt Road in favor of a scenic drive through the park. At other times—and 1992 is one of them—lava from Kilauea has overrun the Chain of Craters Road. You can’t shovel lava off the road like snow, as a volunteer ranger explained to us. When lava has blocked the Chain of Craters Road, drivers must return to the Hawaii Belt Road where they left it. The Saddle Road links Hilo with the west side of the island by crossing the 7,000-foot saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. It’s fully paved but narrow and, at times, potholed and winding. It’s not a shortcut! Many rental-car contracts explicitly forbid driving on the Saddle Road. The other often-forbidden road is the road to South Point, the southernmost point in the United States. It, too, is paved but it is a one-lane road with lines of sight that are sometimes very short.

Rental car prohibitions

As noted above, rental-car contracts may forbid you to drive the car on the Saddle Road or on the road to the southernmost tip of the island, Ka Lae. Neither road is that bad. You will have to decide for yourself whether to risk the drive.

What to leave in the car

Nothing. Never leave valuables in your car, even in a locked trunk. “Valuables” include not only jewelry, money, checks, and credit cards but things you can’t readily replace: glasses, prescription medication, identification, keys, snapshots of loved ones, etc.

Hiking

Road maps are useless for hiking trails. For trail maps, I recommend the maps in this book and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 7½’ series of topographic (“topo”) maps for Hawaii. Topos show elevation details as well as roads and trails. However, topos are not updated as often as you’d like. That’s why you should use them in conjunction with the maps in this book and information from the agencies in charge of the island’s hiking areas—the Division of State Parks, Hawaii District, and the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Hawaii District (I can’t recommend their map). If you do not write for these in advance, you will need to go into Hilo to get them. See their addresses in “Getting Permits or Permission” in this book.

Restored, old Hawaiian trail through lava

Hawaii is covered by 98 topos. Fortunately, you won’t need all of them. As of this writing, you can buy Hawaii topos (as well as lots of interesting books) on the Big Island at Basically Books at 160 Kamehameha Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720; 800-903-MAPS (toll-free); or www.basicallybooks.com.

James A. Bier’s excellent series of maps, published by the University of Hawaii Press, includes a map for each major island. They are widely available on the mainland and in the Islands and are invaluable for driving. Another useful map is Earthwalk Press’s Hiking Map & Guide, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Earthwalk Press’s maps include topographic data, trail descriptions, and a wealth of other information. If you can’t find their maps in your travel store, call Bored Feet Press at 888-336-6199 (toll-free) or visit their Web site at www.boredfeet.com.

Web sites

Check these Web sites and “surf” for others for up-to-date information on Hawaii and the Big Island:

Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVB):

http://www.gohawaii.com/

Big Island of Hawaii (under HVB site):

http://www.gohawaii.com/hokeo/islands/bigisland.html

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

http://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm (many trips in this book)

Kilauea Volcano:

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/eruption.html

(numerous trips in this book)

Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park: