Yesterday I completed my first summit hike, and it was really nice. Now you start to understand why rangers actually want to get out and do hikes rather than talks – in comparison, the “How it all started” speech is small and not so interesting compared to actually going out and touch things and explain the situation real-time. Picking up Himalayan Ginger, smelling the flowers, telling the story of the lovers of Ohia and Lehua right underneath the tree and standing at Kilauea Overlook and pointing right into the crater is really different than just talking about it, even if you are only standing few hundred yards away from it.

So I am glad that it all went well, I had about 20 people tagging along and it took me about an hour to complete the summit walk, so I probably should work a little bit on cutting down the things I talk about to stay within an hour for sure.

Ranger Shyla took us three volunteers out to the Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano village that night, too, which was a particularly nice treat and we really enjoyed it. It actually got quite late and I am on the early shift today… lots of French and Germans in the visitor center, too, so I get to practice the languages at the same time!