Hawaii Shrine

Photos by Karen & Jim Byerly

A Day In The Volcano - 2

The guide gave us a mini riding lesson and we were ready to go. We started out slowly to give everyone a chance to get comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings called a saddle. It was so exhilarating to be heading down the trail on a horse to explore this beautiful and awe inspiring place that has remained virtually unchanged since first contact. I had just read Mark Twain's account of his trip through the crater over a century ago and I imagined what it had been like for him to see this place for the first time.

Of course it was as new to me as it had been to Twain although the road to the summit made it quite a bit less an adventure for us than it had been for Twain. Aside from the road to the summit this place hasn't really changed since Twain's day. It is places like this that remind us of what nature was like before it was touched by the hand of man. I feel that it is these kinds of wilderness that allow me to feel most in touch with God and the universe because they have been touched so little by man. As we traveled down the Sliding Sands Trail we settled into the rhythm created by the stride of our horses.

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