News Release

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park to reopen sections of Byron Ledge and Devastation trails as recovery efforts continue

A portion of the reopened Byron Ledge Trail (NPS Photo/J. Wei)

News Release Date: November 8, 2019

Contact: Jessica Ferracane, Public Affairs Specialist, 808-985-6018

Note to editors: High-resolution public domain images available on Flickr.

Hawaii National Park, HAWAI‘I – Connecting sections of Byron Ledge Trail and Devastation Trail that lead to Kīlauea Iki Trail will reopen Saturday, November 9. 

The scenic 1.1-mile section of trail required repairs and monitoring following intense earthquakes during the Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse of 2018. The connector trails provide hikers with views of the Pu‘u Pua‘i cinder cone, and three volcanoes (Kīlauea, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea) en route to the Kīlauea Iki trailhead on the west side of the crater. 

The reopening also provides much-needed parking at the Devastation Trail parking lot for hikers wanting to experience the iconic Kīlauea Iki Trail. Parking is limited and often overcrowded at Kīlauea Iki Overlook. Accessing Kīlauea Iki Trail by parking at the Devastation Trail parking lot adds a 2.2-mile “cherry stem” to the four-mile loop trail for a total of 6.2 miles.  

Additional disaster recovery continues in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park which sustained serious damage from the 60,000 earthquakes that shook Kīlauea between April 30 and Aug. 4, 2018. The park’s recovery progress is regularly updated on the park website at https://www.nps.gov/havo/recovery.htm. 

-NPS-