Crater Rim Drive is a short one — only 11 miles — but it could be the most interesting road trip you've ever taken. The route passes through rain forest and desert, and provides access to well marked scenic stops and short walks. So don't let the mileage fool you. You won't complete the circumference in a few minutes. If you do, you've missed the highlights such as Sulphur Banks, Steam Vents, Jaggar Museum, Halema'uma'u Crater, Devastation Trail, Kilauea Iki Crater, and Thurston Lava Tubes.

• The Halema'uma'u Overlook is a 10-minute, half-mile round-trip walk to the crater's edge. Native Hawaiians practice their ancient traditions at Halema'uma'u Crater. Rangers ask that visitors respect this sacred site, not build rock piles or leave any items that may desecrate the site. Visitors are also warned that volcanic fumes are hazardous to your health. Anyone with breathing problems, heart problems, and infants, young children and pregnant women should avoid this area.
• Devastation Trail, a 30-minute walk, takes the visitor through the cinder outfall of the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption, about a half-mile each way.
• The Thurston Lava Tube hike, about one-third of a mile, is a 20-minute walk through a tree fern forest and prehistoric cave-like lava tube.
• A longer hike is the two-hour walk to Kilauea Iki. The trail descends 400 feet through native forest in to a crater and across lava flows still steaming from the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption. The trailhead for this four-mile loop is located at the Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot.