Parks reopen on Big Island

The Lava Tree State Monument Park and the new Isaac Hale Beach Park on Hawaii island reopened Wednesday after months-long closures due to the eruption that began May 3.

Issac Hale Beach Park, also known as Pohoiki Beach Park, reopened after a public blessing ceremony. The new iteration of the park features four newly created ocean thermal ponds created by the recent volcanic activity. Hawaii County said there will be emergency road access to Pohoiki, which is on Highway 137 near MacKenzie State Recreation Area. The county advised visitors that there is a dangerous shore break at the park and that they should enter the water at their own risk.

Lava Tree State Monument Park, which features lava molds of tree trunks from a previous lava flow that occurred in the 17th or 18th century, reopened Thursday morning, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The site was closed for seven months.

The small park, which has a 0.7-mile loop trail, is 2.7 miles southeast of Pahoa off Highway 132. Alan Carpenter, assistant administrator of the Division of State Parks, said the public can view the East Rift Zone’s fissure 8 cone in Lower Puna from the highway just outside the park.

Though lava from the May eruption did not flow into the park, numerous earthquakes associated with the eruption damaged park facilities, prompting its closure.

To his surprise, Carpenter said, the lava molds withstood the earthquakes. “I was shocked that they didn’t get broken down by the volcanic and earthquake activity.”

The eruption also forced the closure of the MacKenzie State Recreation Area, which reopened Sept. 8.

The state’s Pohoiki boat ramp near Isaac Hale Park, meanwhile, remains closed because a new black-sand beach that formed during the eruption has blocked the entrance to the ramp.

Officials of the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation are discussing whether sand from the area can be dredged or relocated to a new location in Lower Puna.