Well, I've returned from "wonderland"--Hawaii, the big island. It was quite the trip. I'll try to summarize without boring details.

First off, all airplane connections, with baggage, were great. No problems, no hitches. That's always good.

My first "base camp" was Hilo, where I stayed two nights in a lodge dorm room (all to myself). I rented a bicycle to tour the town.

I got a ride up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park's visitor center, and, meeting up with a fellow trip participant (Igor, a Ukranian American), we hiked several trails in and around Kilauea volcano. We met up with the rest of our group, stayed overnight in a resident "bunkhouse" before backpacking to our destination.

We started off in cold and rainy conditions, but quickly shed our outer garments as we treked over lava (pahoehoe) beds down the mountain side. The walking was treacherous with narrow paths of loose rocks and boulders. And when the wind picked up (gusts of well over 40 mph), it was hard to maintain ones balance. I was blown over once (I was carrying 40 lbs on a 125 lb frame). 8.2 miles and 2 blisters later, we made it all the way down to the coast and Halape campground! Hurray! We set up our tents (with difficulty in the wind) and "surveyed" the area.

For the next three days, we worked with the local park crew in attempting to eradicate--at least "beat back"--invasive trees and ground cover vegetation and was over-running the beach areas where Hawksbill turtles lay their eggs. They were running out of places, so that was our purpose--to re-
establish nesting sites for an endangered species. I felt good about doing it, but the work was difficult (and hot). We lopped, pulled, sawed, carried and stacked tons of overgrowth. What an impressive difference from start to finish.

We would start working each day at 7A, finish around 3P, which gave us time to relax by swimming or fishing or, for the park crew, drinking beer! On the last day, we went snorkling--my first time! The coral and fish were incredible!
Our Wilderness Volunteer team of six got along well, despite age differences (me being the oldest, down to about 25). I know we all worked hard. Not to brag, but I impressed them with my stamina and conditioning.

On Friday, we broke camp and hiked back up the lava flows on what seemed to be double the distance coming down! After resting a spell (plus museum perusing), we ate a luxurious buffet at the Kilauea Military Camp, as guests, thanks to one of our participants, a Coast Guard member who has rights to use the facilities. There was entertainment in the form of a band and hula dancers! Fun.

Since my plane wasn't departing until Sunday evening, I had two days to site-see the island. Lucky for me, another person in the group (Michal, a 60-ish lady) had a rental car and was doing the same thing. So I bought the gas, and away we went! We drove and drove and drove ($60 worth all told), seeing everything we could. Incredible overlooks, beaches, farmer's markets, botanical gardens, lava tubes, waterfalls, etc. We even sited whales! We did some hiking, too. My last night was spent in a hostel (Hilo Bay) with spicy Thai food for dinner.

The adventure was over, but I'm happy to be home. The sun is out, temps warmer than when I left, everything looks good. Now it's back to the old routines. I have a couple of souveniers to remind me of the past 10 days--a hat, a T shirt, a flashlight, and a poster tacked on the wall right next to me as I type! Aloha!!