Day 1 – Hawaii lava

Being one of the most powerful countries in the world, the USA has always been a dream of mine to ride round. I have travelled through some of the poorest and riches cities and I am fascinated to see how the whole of the USA compares. As Hawaii is such a vast distance from London our journey to the Big Island took us well over 24 hours, and by the time we had reached the community that we were staying with, called Hedonisia, it had effectively been almost two days. This was mainly due to the fact that because we had some quick flight connections our bags were not as speedily connected as we were. Therefore 3 hours and 3 planes later, we were only just able to start the 2 hour drive to this community.

Waking up in Hedonisia was like coming out of a coma, because of the incredible time difference and the strange architecture of the place (I had been sleeping in an old bus/plane). I felt exhilarated to get the day started though and we left to start our long journey. With our fixer Gail we set off across the deserted lava fields for over 2 hours. It was a mesmerising experience. When we had completed our adventure, the sun had already set and the black moving ground below us, was no where to be seen without a strong torch or flashlight as they say in the USA. Also because of the dangerous nature of the ground we had to be careful where we walked. So in single file the Extreme Frontiers crew walked silently in the night for another two hours, until we had found our camp, on the lava field.

 Please note Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials do not encourage hikers to access the flow from the end of Chain of Craters Road. The trek is an extremely arduous and grueling hike over hardened lava at least 12-14 miles round trip. For information on observing lava from Kalapana, call the County hotline, (001) (808) 961-8093 or check out their website.