The Kau Desert Footprints Trail allows hikers to explore a seldom visited corner of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park that combines surreal moonlike volcanic landscapes with molds of ancient footprints found in the stone and preserved in a shelter.
Beginning at a pullout along Hawaii Belt Road, this trail sees very few visitors as most of those looking to explore the park will head to the main entrance where numerous features and trails are concentrated. That leaves this hike for those looking to walk out on the dried volcanic lava flow with few, if any, other people in the nearby vicinity.
The trail first follows a crushed gravel track. A couple interpretive signs are set along the way. Before long, the hike begins to descend into the lava fields, with cairns and footprints of past hikers providing the wayfinding clues.
At just .8 miles in, a small wooden shelter offers a glimpse at preserved footprint molds of previous inhabitants of the area who traveled across this environment. This small shelter is also the only shade and protection from the elements that hikers will find along the path. Hikers can easily turn back here and make a 1.6 mile roundtrip path out of it. However those looking to head into the slightly more challenging and scenic terrain can continue past here, where the trail leaves most of the vegetation behind and begins to traverse a route of sheer lava rock in a massive field of the same. Hikers will need to lookout for cairns in the near distance, which is the only way to stay on the correct route.
Eventually the trail reaches a fork with the Mauna Iki Trail which offers access far deeper into the park's interior. Or the fork can be treated as a turnaround point, making the entire out and back from the road just over 4 miles total.
There are no amenities at the trailhead or anywhere along this hike. The trail lies within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and as such is subject to park rules and entry fees.
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