Submitted by Maddison Alt on the 2022 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences…
This week we are in Hilo! A short flight took us to a new island with a completely different energy. Waikiki in O’ahu was beautiful, but very much geared toward travelers like ourselves. Hilo is much more “local.” We are visiting volcanoes this week, and Hilo is filled with fields full of volcanic rock. We visited the Kīlauea Volcano, where we could see the steam vents releasing pressure all around the area. We also got to walk through the Thurston Lava Tube, which is exactly what it sounds like, but still pretty unexpected. Another placed we visited was Akaka Falls, a beautiful and absolutely massive waterfall, surrounded by the most beautiful lush greenery. The Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens showed another example of the incredible variety of flora that exists on this island, both invasive and indigenous. I am so excited to see where the next week takes us!
