At 7:45 a.m. we arrive at Hilo airport, excited for our doors-off helicopter tour with Paradise Helicopters. First we fly over green fields and plantations before cooled lava flows cut through the landscape like black rivers. Then the scenery transforms into a black-grey desert dotted with isolated trees, fragments of burned-down houses, and remnants of roads. The smoking vent of the active Pu'u O'o appears ahead. As we fly over we can see the lava bubbling, but at this point the volcano is too quiet for a surface lava flow — it's flowing beneath the hardened crust.

From the Visitor Center we follow the Sulphur Banks Trail to the Iliahi Trail, then on to the Volcano House and back to the Visitor Center. About one hour at a leisurely pace.

From the Pu'u Pua'i Overlook we walk half the Devastation Trail and back again. A 45-minute flat walk with stunning views into the extinct Pu'u Pua'i crater. The black hill was piled up during an eruption in just a few days.

We start from the Thurston Lava Tube parking lot and descend straight into the crater, following the Kilauea Iki Trail. For about an hour we explore the caldera and see many types of lava in the solidified lava lake. Kilauea Iki erupted on the night of November 14, 1959, with massive eruptions lasting five weeks. Sulfur steam still escapes at many points today. We then climb steeply up the far crater wall before following the rim back to our starting point. At a comfortable pace we need a good two and a half hours — a spectacular trail!