(BIVN) – A popular observation deck overlooking the Kīlauea summit caldera has been reopened after a seven-year closure.

The public overlook at Uēkahuna is in the same area where the Jaggar Museum once stood. The building has since been removed.

From a National Park Service news release:

Called Uēkahuna, the highest point on Kīlauea is a wahi pana (legendary place) steeped in centuries of Hawaiian tradition. Here one can look across the caldera, into the ever-changing Halemaʻumaʻu crater, gaze upslope to the summit of Mauna Loa, and watch koaʻe kea (white-tailed tropicbirds) soar above the crater walls.

Visitors look across Kaluapele from the Uēkahuna observation deck (NPS Photo/J.Wei)

The area has been closed since May 2018, following two large earthquakes, a catastrophic eruption and summit collapse that triggered thousands of smaller earthquakes over a four-month period. The park’s historic Jaggar Museum and two buildings used by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory were badly damaged and removed. Deconstruction began in April 2024 and is now complete.

Although the buildings are gone, the observation deck and historic stone walls, once crumbling and riddled with fractures from the 2018 earthquakes, are repaired. An outline of the former Jaggar Museum footprint includes stones from the original columns to commemorate the historic building. And a new USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field station is being built near the historic ballfield by Kilauea Military Camp, further away from the rim of the caldera.

“We are delighted to welcome everyone back to Uēkahuna,” said Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh. “We deeply appreciate how understanding the community and park visitors have been during the construction process, and mahalo those who provided feedback on the options.”

A new path now connects the observation deck to Crater Rim Trail along the rim of the caldera, and the area is replanted with native shrubs, grasses and trees near the observation deck. A historic stone bench was restored, and several new benches that replicate the historic look have been added.

A new path with post and cable barrier connecting Uēkahuna with Crater Rim Trail (NPS Photo/Janice Wei)

The restrooms and comfort station at Uēkahuna will reopen once the new water tank is complete and passes inspection, projected for later this summer.

Uēkahuna is deeply revered by generations of Native Hawaiians who were the first to observe and interpret the volcanic processes within Kaluapele (Kīlauea caldera) and an important site for western science ever since Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912.

Jaggar Museum will not be rebuilt. Instead, the renovated Kīlauea Visitor Center (KVC) will accommodate the lost visitor services provided at Jaggar Museum.  KVC is slated to reopen by summer 2026.

Visitors are urged to stay behind the stone walls and post-and-cable barriers at Uēkahuna and elsewhere along the caldera rim for their safety. Steep and unstable cliff edges along Kaluapele drop approximately 500 feet to the crater floor.