The Southernmost Point in the USA

About a year ago I was able to travel back to my favorite place, the Hawaiian Islands. And this time I traveled to the island named Hawaii aka “The Big Island”. As many people know, the volcano Kilauea is currently erupting and starting to cause some major damage. I saw Kilauea erupting (not anywhere near what it is now) and stayed in the same national park, in a hotel that looked right at Kilauea. Funny story is, I had been working on a Volcano National Park Guide but it felt wrong to finish and publish it as the park and that side of the island are closed.

But I do not want this to take away from how INCREDIBLE The Big Island is. While Volcano National Park is a huge part of the islands charm, there is so much more. Another amazing experience I had while there was traveling to the southernmost point in the USA, Ka Lae. Most people know this as Key West but in 1959 when Hawaii officially become a state, the government realized that Ka Lae, on The Big Island is actually more south then Key West!

Traveling to the Ka Lae is not exactly easy though. The rental car companies do not recommend traveling there with small cars that cannot handle the terrain. But there are opportunities to go with a car that can go offroading. And TBH the rental companies are right. We might have done it (aka we did) but there were a few times I did not think our little Audi was going to make it without destroying the bottom of the car and my bank account. But we lucked out because we made it! I was able to use Google maps to get us there but as we got close, there was no phone service and I was lucky I took a bunch of screenshots of what was to come ahead. (Since there was nothing, I mean nothing around I figured we would be losing cell phone service eventually).

After driving down a crazy winding road that becomes only one lane at certain points, we finally arrived! When we got there, we saw people jumping off the Ka Lae cliffs, and when we kept walking down past the metal light beacon, we reached the southernmost point in the country and literally where the land meets the sea. It was so peaceful. To me it was beautiful and I was entranced by the sound of the waves crashing onto the rocks and the fact that you heard nothing else. The rock walls there are a sacred Hawaiian site, so please leave them be, but theres a great sign in the rocks that someone made (and broke the rules) that says “South Point”.

Overall, I thought it was awesome to say I have been to the southernmost point in the USA... BUT there are some things you should know before you go

-Don’t keep valuables visible in your car, break ins have been known
-Be very careful if your going to jump off the cliffs, the water is known to be rough and the next piece of land is Antarctica... (I really wanted to but held off)
-it’s VERY hot, prepare for the heat
-It’s a long trip, be prepared for more than a half a day trip for this