This morning we had breakfast at the "Volcano House" at Volcano National Park. Unfortunately it was pouring down rain, and there were clouds completely obscuring the view. This building was built in the early 1900's and then re-built in the 1950's so that people could come and watch the Kilauea volcano erupt in safety! There are amazing pictures all around the lobby. While we were in Hilo, we picked up a second van and started traveling everywhere in caravan. I couldn't resist taking pictures of our vans in the parking lot. Of course they are still completely covered in bikes. 
After breakfast, most of the group rode in the Van to a trail head, and hiked across the smaller of the two volcano craters. This was the Kilauea Iki crater - which about 50 years ago was a lake of lava. Walking across this was completely amazing. There are even steam vents puffing away around the crater, the stone was of course safe, and completely solid... but somehow the stones seemed a little warm. I was at the back of the group, so I took this picture of everyone walking across the lava in their rain coats. Fortunately, the fog lifted so we were able to see the crater a bit better! From above, the lava really looked like a lake. but once we were really down on the surface, it was very rough, and had big peaks mixed with some smooth parts.
After the hike, some of the group biked 8 miles around both craters, seeing some amazing sights -- and then ended up back at the lava house for lunch in the park.
After lunch, we had the most amazing bike ride of the whole trip. 30 miles down to the ocean. I say this was an amazing ride, because it was the straightest, fastest, easiest downhill I have ever ridden in my life! The road had a few slight turns, but it was nothing like the winding down hill rides we have done on other days. I could pedal in my highest gear and not touch my breaks for miles. Because of the rain, my spedometer stopped working at some point, so I'm not sure how fast we were going... but I'm sure it was at least 35 mph. The most amazing part was watching the elevation markers count down from 4000 feet all the way to sea level.
~Abi
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