» Hit the South Kona Fruit Stand and Nursery on day three (mile markers 103 and 104 on Route 11, 808-328-8547). The organic produce includes piquantly tart starfruit and sweet strawberry papayas; take a bag of popcorn coated with caramel and macadamia nuts for the road. » Everyone knows about Kona coffee. Bring home less predictable varieties from Hilo Coffee Mill (808-982-5551, www.hilocoffeemill.com), outside Hilo—including proprietary blends like Hilo Rush—and support small coffee farms. » From December through April, thousands of humpback whales make their annual pilgrimage to Hawaii. On day one or two, catch them as they congregate off the Kona Coast.
DAY THREE: As you round the southern tip of the island on Route 11 and head up the eastern coast, there's an unmistakable change in climate: Cloud cover rolls in and rain is likely. You're approaching Hilo, one of the wettest U.S. cities, with an average annual rainfall of 126 inches. Before you get there, stop at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. All paved park roads are open to bicycles; pedal Crater Rim Drive, a moderate 11-mile loop that circles Kilauea's summit caldera and craters, through rainforest and desert terrain. Make scenic stops at Halema'uma'u Crater (the storied home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess), half-mile Devastation Trail (where you'll find a stark cinder cone and fragile forest still recovering from the 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki), and Thurston Lava Tube (get an inside view of the plumbing behind a lava flow). An unpaved evacuation route, Escape Road, is open to mountain bikers when conditions are safe; consult park rangers at the Kilauea Visitor Center for maps and updates. From Thurston Lava Tube, the well-kept dirt road is a fast descent that crosses a 1973 lava flow to arrive at the Mauna Ulu parking lot, with an 800-foot elevation change. To connect back to the starting point for a 12.5-mile loop, take the Chain of Craters Road to Crater Rim Drive.
Three miles in from the national park entrance is Namakani Paio campground; free campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis, or you can rent one of ten simple cabins. If you want an expansive breakfast spread of homemade coffee cakes, eggs Benedict, and exotic jaboticaba berries and rambutan, spend the night at Carson's Volcano Cottage, a mile and a half from the park.
