Kaumana Caves Park

The mouth of the Kaumana Caves is easy to find from the signs guiding the way. The caves open onto private land and the County of Hawaii set up an ordinance that now requires visitors to get prior permission and sign an assumption of risk waiver before exploring deeper into the caves.

Visitors that want to go deeper into the caves are given a brief discussion at the cave's entrance about exploring Kaumana Caves and the risks that can be found there. They are also furnished with a list of equipment and clothing they need to bring to go spelunking.

Photo from David Puuiki Beach

There is a steep, concrete staircase that was been built at the top street level, across the street from the parking area, to assist visitors in getting down to the cool darkness of these lava caves. Watch your steps as the stairs can be very slippery when wet and wet occurs very often with the typical Hilo rainy weather.

The caves are not wheel chair accessable. The caves have been left in their natural state, except for the concrete stairs. This means to watch your step as the floor levels are uneven making it easy to trip as you walk through the lava tube. It is a necessity to bring strong flashlights with new batteries as there are no lights in the caves at all. The deeper you go into the depths of the caves the darker it gets until you feel as if you and your light are Photo from esimpsonatl
being consumed by darkness. The darkness seems
to absorbs all of the light that comes from the caves entrance. If you are spelunkers equipped with head lamps and flashlights, all the better. The regular tourist will not usually be prepared to go underground in the dark.; your head lamps will be very useful here.

There is a legend about the 1881 lava flow that created the lave tube at Kaumana. It has been said that Princess Ruth Ke`elikolani camped in front of the slow moving lava flow pleading with Madame Pele to spare Hilo town.

History states that the lava flow stopped within 1 1/2 miles of Hilo. The local people all believe that Madame Pele heard the desperate plea from Princess Ruth and answered her prayers by stopping the flow from destroying Hilo town.

Photo from Honolulu Star Bulletine Archives

You will walk through the lush vegetation of the rain forest jungle that consists of a large variety of tropical plants such as several different species of ferns, elephant ear, philodendron, and wild orchids.

The floor of the cave at the bottom of the stairs is a collapsed pit, which also forms two entrances to the cave. Long thin roots from the dense vegetation can be seen growing through the ceiling of the tube and all the way down to the floor of the cave. They resemble the long roots of the banyan trees that can be seen in Hilo on Banyan Drive.

Photo from Honolulu Star Bulletine Archives

When entering the caves you will notice the cave is very wet with mossy walls. Ferns can be observed growing out from the moss in the walls. The lush tropical plant life within the entrance of the cave is because of the consistent afternoon rain in Hilo. As you make your way deeper into the cavern, about 300 feet, there are two more caves which are about 16 feet in diameter; one on the right and one on the left.

Even if you have never had any interest in spelunking, you will be fascinated exploring the lava formations at the openings of these caves. Most folks entering the cave on the right can see graffiti dating back to 1926 and earlier scratched into the rocks.

The entrance on the left is a smaller, uphill cave entrance that is less frequently visited. It is far more interesting to spelunkers. It leads through tight squeezes and low spots in the rocks that you have to crawl through to get into several larger rooms with intriguing cave formations and geographical designs from the lava flow itself.

The caves are a pleasantly cool place to escape to when the temperatures in Hilo get too warm. Unless you intend on going deeper into the caves, walking about the areas lit by the sun will only take about 20 minutes.

For the more adventurous spelunkers, there are miles of caves to explore. If you intend to go to the caves with spelunking in mind, it would be better to bring a hard hat with a head light, extra drinking water and powerful flashlights. Small, weaker flashlights don't give out enough light in the pitch black of the caves to see more than 20 feet ahead.

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Petzl Spelios Helmet with Duo Lamp 1