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Recommends...
 By Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman. Excellent guidebook. Much better than the Lonely Planet series, since it gives opinions. Good, detailed information for hiking and snorkeling. |
volcanoes_NP
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Volcanoes NP is located about 30 miles south of Hilo. Traditionally, the main source of interest has been Kilauea Volcano, but since 1983, most eruptive activity has occured at Pu'u 'O'o, on the eastern boundary of the park. The eruption inundated the town of Kalapana, as well as a 5-mile section of Highway 130 (Chain of Craters Road). Amazingly, the Park Service permits visitors to drive to the current end of Chain of Craters Road (20 miles from the Visitor Center area) and walk onto the active lava flows.
Kim and I first had a "lunch" at Volcano House, which has a great view into the enormous Kilauea Caldera. We hiked along the crater rim for a stretch, then took a highly recommended hike into, and then out of, Kilauea Iki Caldera. Kilauea Iki is a satellite of the main Kilauea Volcano. Our guidebook, Hawaii: the Big Island Revealed, notes that Kilauea Iki "had been asleep for almost a century when it became active in 1959. Then it erupted into gargantuan fountains of lava, some reaching a staggering 1900 feet--that's more than four times the height of the crater walls and is the highest on record...The vent spewed enough lava at one point to bury a football field 15 feet deep--every minute!"
Soon, however, we were on to the day's main attraction, a viewing of Pu'u 'O'o's active lava flows. Although we'd been warned about crowds, the traffic was light. When we neared road's end, we simply realized that we were late! Cars were parallel parked for easily a mile from road's end. The road was closed another mile from the actual point where lava crosses the road. From there, roughly another mile of walking is required to reach the active lava flows. Despite the crowds and the walking, our enthusiasm to see the lava was not dimished. Before we knew it, the temperature became hot. I looked into a fissure between my legs, only to see it glowing from within with red hot molten rock! Soon we came to a point where the lava was actually actively flowing. At some places it moved relatively fast (1-2 inches per second). It rolled over living trees, lighting them aflame in the process. In the distance, steam clouds belched skyward as lava poured into the ocean.
I don't know how to summarize the experience. It wasn't the most beautiful place I'd ever been, but the experience of watching red-hot lava flow across my feet, to see the usual glacial pace of geologic processes accelerated by orders of magnitude...this was a totally foreign, unique experience, and somewhat unexpected. I never thought we'd get to within a thousand feet of lava, let alone be able to jump across it!
| Lava Movies! (click to view -- 7-8 MB AVI files) | |
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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