Sight · Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
A short walk reveals road pavement trapped by lava.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes audio tourRecorded for this place
Alanui Kahiko: The Road Under the Lava“Alanui Kahiko is coming up, with a piece of old road swallowed by lava. Walk about a hundred feet toward the sea from the pullout to find the surviving pavement.”
Plays as you drive up to Alanui Kahiko in the Parkwolf Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Alanui Kahiko is a pullout on Chain of Craters Road at the foot of Hōlei Pali. A 100-foot walk toward the sea reaches a surviving stretch of the old road, where lava crossed the pavement. It’s a worthwhile quick stop if you want to see the eruption’s effects on something built, not just on the landscape.
From the pullout, look inland at the lava-draped pali and the smooth, ropey pāhoehoe beside rough, jagged ʻaʻā. Walk toward the sea to see the pavement up close. For a photo, use the broken road as the foreground and keep some of the lava in the frame; the pali makes the wider view from the pullout.
Alanui means “road” and kahiko means “old” in Hawaiian. Maunaulu’s 1969–1974 eruption covered this section in 1972. The surviving pavement makes that story unusually tangible: you can see the old route where lava took it over. The pullout has parking for cars and buses or RVs.
Wildlife
600 sightingsHawaiian Goose (Nēnē)Most seen around 5 PMSighting map
35 sightingsGreen Sea TurtleMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
36 sightingsHawaiian Hawk ('Io)Most seen around 11 AMSighting map
41 sightingsBlack NoddyMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
96 sightingsWhite-tailed TropicbirdMost seen around noonSighting map
24 sightingsHawai'i 'ElepaioMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Hawaiʻi Volcanoes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingNāulu Trail6.4 mi · 3.5 hr · 1.1 mi awayA steady climb over rough lava links Kealakomo with the Nāpau junction.
ModeratePuʻuloa Petroglyphs Trail1.4 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.8 mi awayRough lava footing leads to Hawaiʻi’s largest petroglyph field.
ChallengingPuna Coast Trail to ʻĀpua Point10.8 mi · 6.5 hr · 1.8 mi awayA long lava coast walk ends beneath ʻĀpua’s coconut grove.
ChallengingKeauhou Trail15.2 mi · 8.5 hr · 4 mi awayLava ridges lead to a freshwater seep on the remote coast.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayKealakomo OverlookA coastal overlook above a village buried by lava.Sight · 2.1 mi awayPuʻuloa PetroglyphsWalk rough lava to a field of more than 23,000 petroglyphs.
Sight · 3.1 mi awayMuliwai a PeleA three-day lava river left its own channels and levees.
Sight · 3.6 mi awayHōlei Sea ArchThe sea arch is gone; the black-lava coast remains.
Scenic pullout · 4 mi awayMau Loa o MaunauluSee Maunaulu's glassy 1969–74 lava field from the road.
Campground · 4.1 mi awayʻĀpua PointA palm grove at the end of a long, exposed coastal hike.
Sight · 4.3 mi awayMakaopuhi Crater OverlookKīlauea’s largest pit crater, with a blue lava lens on its wall.
Sight · 4.9 mi awayNāpau CraterReach Nāpau Crater by a strenuous hike over lava and through rainforest.Parkwolf’s Hawaiʻi Volcanoes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
