Highway 137

One of my favorite drives anywhere is highway 137 thru the coastal Puna district on the Big Island. The road is totally rural, back in time about 50 years through very quiet countryside of spectacular beauty. Life moves at a slow, relaxed pace here. There is some activity; there are a couple of beach parks and a number of attractions that draw a few tourists, but it's still very peaceful here. The road is very unusual in that some parts of it are lush, quintessential tropical forest, but other areas are stark and barren thanks to recent lava flows. For all the tranquillity here, it could end at any place at any time, if madam Pele feels obnoxious and spreads a band of lava through the region.

There are graves by the side of the road in several places. They lie in the jungle, a reminder of times past. They're not in any organized cemetery. Are they eerie or nostalgic? I can't decide. These have been there for about 50-80 years.

The road passes through jungle, bare lava flows, and stunning coastal vistas where the sea meets the lava and the rainforest. The swells come straight from Antarctica; the ocean is almost always very rough. It's grand and wild here.

The road is canopied by trees in many places; the sun dapples shadows across the pavement, adding to the mystical scene.

This lava flow occurred in 1955, creating a black sand beach nearby. Part of the beach disappeared in the mid 1970s, when an earthquake dropped the coastline three feet. Other flows buried parts of the area in 1960 and again in 1990. 137 was probably a little busier years ago

as it used to go into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: you could make a loop drive from 137 to Kilauea Crater and on to Hilo. But lava cut the road in the late 1980s and has continued to flow ever since, so the road deadends in the village of Kalapana. At roads end is a fast food place that serves yummy milkshakes! The restaurant has a somewhat precarious existence; the flowing lava I blogged recently is only a couple miles away. Fortunately, it's not moving toward the restaurant-now.

This is my last day in Puna; I'm moving across the island tomorrow. Though I've been here for two weeks, I'd like to stay longer. But I'll be back in a year or two.