Sight · Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
A long hike to the forest sheltered inside a steep crater.
Overview
Forested Pit Crater is a steep, collapsed pit in the Kahuku Unit of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. From the rim, you look down into a dense native forest enclosed by high crater walls, a striking change from the open pasture outside it. This is a destination hike, not a quick roadside stop: the route from Pit Crater Trailhead is strenuous: 4.8 miles round trip, about 1,165 feet of elevation change, and at least three hours. A start at Pali o Kaʻeo adds 2.4 miles but is more scenic and less rigorous. Kahuku opens on limited days and hours, so check the schedule before heading out.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs it worth the hike?Map
Plan your stop
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
Forested Pit Crater: A Hike to the Rim“You're approaching Kahuku's Pit Crater Trailhead, the start of a strenuous hike to Forested Pit Crater. Allow three to six hours for the almost five-mile round trip, with a steep climb of more than eleven hundred feet.”
Plays as you drive up to Forested Pit Crater 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
The approach crosses grassy pasture and passes koa and ʻōhiʻa lehua before reaching the crater edge. Keep back from the rim; the crater floor is not a visitor route. From the edge, frame the canopy against the steep inner wall for the defining view. An optional 1.7-mile loop near the crater extends the walk.
A botanical survey team rappelled into the crater in 2005 and documented more than 100 plant species, many rare or endangered. The survey also found plants not recorded elsewhere in Kahuku, including the endangered violet haha. Collections from the crater have helped restore rare native plants elsewhere in the park. The sheltered forest makes the place more than a dramatic hole in the ground.
Pit craters form as a volcano shifts or expands and fractures. A cavity can rise beneath the surface until weakened roof rock collapses, leaving a steep-walled depression. Erosion widens the walls over time, and forest can grow on the floor. They are not explosive eruption craters or collapsed lava tubes.
The forest stands in a landscape shaped by ranching. Kahuku was among Hawaiʻi Island’s oldest ranches, and ranching changed the area’s native ecosystems. The 2003 addition of Kahuku Ranch to the national park brought this pasture-and-forest mosaic under public protection.
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
ModerateThe Glover Trail3.2 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.9 mi awayPasture paths end at a rainforest tucked inside a crater.
ChallengingKona Trail7 mi · 4 hr · 1.7 mi awayA full 7-mile outing through Kahuku pasture and 1887 lava.ChallengingPit Crater Trail4.8 mi · 4.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayA steep climb through koa pasture to a forest-filled crater.
ModeratePalm Trail2.6 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.3 mi awayFollow an 1868 lava fissure through old ranchland and open pasture.
EasyKamakapaʻa Trail0.5 mi · 25 min · 4.3 mi awayA grassy half-mile loop to a small cone and wide Kaʻū views
ModeratePuʻu o Lokuana Trail2 mi · 1.5 hr · 4.7 mi awayA ranch-road loop through a green kīpuka and red cinder cone.Parkwolf’s Hawaiʻi Volcanoes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
