After we left Punaluu Black Sands Beach Park, the Hawaii Belt Road heads towards the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. There is little or nothing along the road all the way through the park until you get to the community of Volcano on the east side of the park.

Within the park, there is a hiking trail called “Desolation Trail”… I think this picture of the highway ahead could be called “Desolation Road”. Only the power poles in the foreground give away the fact there are still a couple of small communities ahead before entering the park itself.

I thought this picture of an ancient lava dome in the background with a pile of broken lava in the foreground (speeding by at 50 mph) was unique.

Here is a picture of the ancient lava dome by itself.

This picture was actually taken a few miles previous to going to the black sands beach. I can’t be sure, as I didn’t really take time to make my bearings, but the haze in the background at ocean level obscuring the shoreline at a great distance could be steam created as fresh hot lava was entering the ocean.