Keanakākoʻi Crater

Keanakākoʻi Crater is a pit crater on Kīlauea’s summit boundary fault, distinct from the nearby eruption-viewing overlook with a similar name. Start at Devastation Trailhead and follow the pedestrian section of Old Crater Rim Drive. The easy return is about two miles and takes roughly 1 to 1½ hours; cars cannot use this stretch, so plan for a walk instead of a roadside stop. Return the same way. Pets are not allowed.

The crater is about 115 feet deep, with a broad lava floor below its steep walls. Keep to the marked route; the walk passes the crater and continues just beyond it. For a photo, include part of the rim with the floor so the bowl reads as a crater, not just a patch of lava.

Keanakākoʻi means “cave of the adzes.” Hawaiian carving specialists quarried its hard basalt for koʻi, stone adze heads fixed to wooden handles for carving canoes and houses. Lava covered the source rock in 1877, burying the quarry that gave the place its name.

A July 1974 fissure eruption covered the crater floor with about 20 feet of lava, leaving the pit about 115 feet deep. The walk also crosses ground changed by other eruptions: Kīlauea Iki’s 1959 fountains spread cinders nearby, and the 2018 summit collapse opened cracks and fissures along the route.