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National Park Service · Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park · HI

Kulanaokuaiki

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Kīlauea eruption Volcanic eruptions can be hazardous. Stay out of closed areas and monitor air quality. Eruptions can last a few hours and are often separated by pauses lasting several weeks.
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Sulphur Banks Bridge Closed; Boardwalk is Open The Sulphur Banks Bridge is damaged and closed until further notice. The Haʻakulamanu area, boardwalk and Sulphur Banks Trail are open and accessible from the west side near Steam Vents.
Caution
Protect Yourself from Volcanic Tephra Volcanic ash, rock and glassy strands (tephra) is present at Kīlauea summit and can irritate your skin, eyes and respiratory system. For your safety, do not handle it. Eye protection, long sleeves, long pants, a hat, closed-toe shoes and a…
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Mauna Loa Road Closed Past First Cattle Guard for Tree Removal Mauna Loa Road will be closed to all use from the first cattle guard to Mauna Loa Lookout for tree removal starting September 23 through October 29, 2026. The tree work will prepare the area for the Mauna Loa Road Rehabilitation Project.…
Caution
Kīpukapuaulu Trail Closed Due to Hazardous Trees and Hanging Limbs Kīpukapuaulu Trail remains closed due to numerous hazardous trees and hanging limbs resulting from several recent storms. Managers are developing a plan and will reopen the trail when it is safe.
Alerts: National Park Service alerts API · Oct 17, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: all 9 sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Get directionsWhat it costs, and the rules
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$10From, per site
Sites
99 of them walk-up
Photos · NPS/Ed Shiinoki
3,180 ftElevation
6.5 miWater · an unnamed pondOcean · 5.0 mi · to the Pacific Ocean
9.5 miSW of Fern Forest, HI
9Walk-up sites
0%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Kulanaokuaiki is located off Hilina Pali Road at 3,200 feet (975 m), there are nine walk-in campsites with picnic tables. There is an accessible vault toilet; however, no water is available and campfires are not permitted. Use fueled camping stoves only. This campground is subject to closure when the area is dry and during times of high fire risk. No dogs or pets are allowed at this campground to protect endangered nene.

Source: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets - year round
Drinking water
None, bring your own
Source: National Park Service and agency records

Around the campground

Night sky · 0.013 mcd/m²
Bortle 2
Source: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $10 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe agency’s record
A night$10Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$20DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itNational Park Servicethe agency’s record
Directions
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceNational Park Service
A night, from$10
Per site$10
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$10
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$20

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($10), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Sign price: Derived by CAMPANAC from the National Park Service fee record: a stated per-night amount only · Sep 7, 2026
Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026
The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026
Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026
The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025
Source: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Coordinate19.34367, -155.27408
The phone8089856000

Where it is

Source: National Park Service API · Aug 24, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight61°Scattered Rain Showers53% rain
Saturday75°Sunny8% rain
Saturday Night61°Mostly Clear13% rain
Sunday75°Sunny2% rain

NWS forecast for Mauna Loa Estates, HI

Source: National Weather Service, HFO forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 55°F, day 72°F.

80°40°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: HAWAII VOL NP HQ 54, HI (USC00511303), 6 miles away and 791 ft higher
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Jill Tokuda, official portrait

Kulanaokuaiki is in Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Jill Tokuda (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: National Park Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026
Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.013 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow · Sep 8, 2026
Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model
Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Mauna Loa Estates, HI, 5.7 mi SSW (a census designated place). Straight line.
Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026