Sight · Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
A pit crater with a 1958 survey marker on its rim.
Overview
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 area
Puhimau Crater: Forever Smoking“Up ahead is Puhimau Crater, a quick roadside stop for steep, layered walls and a green crater floor. Its name means forever smoking, and you may spot faint steam escaping from cracks on the far side.”
Plays on the road 0.6 mi from Koʻokoʻolau Crater Lookout 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
Koʻokoʻolau Crater Lookout is a small roadside viewpoint on Chain of Craters Road, looking into a forested pit crater. ʻŌhiʻa, koa and dense groundcover hide much of its bowl, so expect a partial view rather than an open lava crater. It’s a quick look for a drive already headed this way, not a stop to plan the day around.
There are no food, drinking water or fuel stops along Chain of Craters Road. Plan those before heading down; the lookout is a view stop, not a service stop.
Koʻokoʻolau is a pit crater, formed when magma drained underground and the ground above collapsed. A small mound on the rim is a remnant of a lava-vent spatter cone. The vegetation makes a clean crater outline hard to see and frame.
A 1958 U.S. Geological Survey benchmark on the rim marks an elevation of 3,521 feet. A low wall borders the rim; stay behind it because the ground beyond may be thin.
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
EasyDevastation Trail1 mi · 1 hr · 1.6 mi awayA short paved walk through cinder from Kīlauea Iki’s 1959 eruption.
ModerateUēaloha (Byron Ledge) Trail2.2 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.6 mi awayOpen cinder, forested ledge, and views of Puʻupuaʻi.
EasyKeanakākoʻi Crater Trail2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.6 mi awayAn easy walk on a former road reaches a 115-foot crater.
EasyNāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) Trail0.4 mi · 30 min · 2 mi awayA short ferny walk leads into a 500-year-old lava tube.
EasyEscape Road Trail3.8 mi · 2 hr · 2 mi awayA gentle forest descent from Nāhuku toward Mauna Ulu.
ModerateKīlauea Iki Trail3.3 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayCross a solidified lava lake beneath Puʻupuaʻi
ModerateMaunaulu / Puʻuhuluhulu Trail2.5 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.3 mi awayCross 1969 lava flows to a forested cone and its viewing platform.
ChallengingNāpau Trail12.4 mi · 7.2 hr · 2.3 mi awayCross old lava rivers into a fern forest and a crater overlook.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayPuhimau CraterA quick roadside look into one of Kīlauea's steep-walled pit craters.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayLuamanu and July 1974 FlowA crater holds the mark of lava that later drained away.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayPauahi CraterA roadside look into a crater shaped by three eruptions.Sight · 1.6 mi awayKeanakākoʻi CraterA short old-road walk reaches a crater layered with human history.
Sight · 1.7 mi awayEruption Viewing near Keanakākoʻi OverlookA two-mile round trip to a closer Halemaʻumaʻu view.
Sight · 1.9 mi awayPuʻupuaʻi OverlookSee Kīlauea Iki from beside the cone its eruption built.
Sight · 2.1 mi awayNāhuku Lava TubeA rainforest walk opens into a lava tunnel.
Sight · 2.1 mi awayKīlauea Iki OverlookA quick rim stop above the crater of 1959's towering lava fountains.Parkwolf’s Hawaiʻi Volcanoes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
