Wow, this weekend I had the opportunity to witness the earth being formed! I walked on land that was much younger than me (sometimes just a few hours old!).
I was on the island of Hawai’i (also known as the Big Island). Since I had some free time this weekend, I decided to take a short 45 min flight over. Although there were about 100 things I wanted to do with my time there (including diving with Mantas at night and seeing the Ironman Triathlon site), I had to limit myself to basically
only 2 things. Visiting the Kilauea Volcano and a black sand beach were my two top priorities.
For those not familiar with the volcano or the Big Island, let me share a few of the highlights with you.
The Kilauea Volcano is the most active volcano in the world. In fact, it’s been continuously erupting since January 3, 1983. Now, you may not always see the lava on the surface, but it’s been going, nonetheless. It’s also conveniently located right in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. The park itself is perhaps one of the most
fascinating places I have ever visited. It’s characterized by lush tropical forests, vents spewing steam, volcano calderas, huge chasms, lava tubes, lava fields and often, visible surface lava (what I was after).
The military decided back in the early 20th century that the volcano would be a perfect site for a recreation complex. So, there is a nice resort conveniently located right at the volcano. Since it’s uphill from the volcano, it’s perfectly safe from the volcano’s violent eruptions that has claimed a couple nearby towns (182 homes
in the recent eruption) and has already added 600 acres of new land on the coast.
The current eruption is at a newly created vent on the volcano called Pu’u O’o. So, my goal was two fold. One, to watch the volcano come to life at night; two, see flowing lava up close and personal.
To the first goal’s end, I arrived in the late afternoon and immediately headed down to Pu’u O’o after I checked in at the resort. When I got there, I found a huge crowd that had a similar idea. There were a couple hundred cars parked on the side of the road. There is no parking lot and there are old (meaning hard and cold) lava fields that cover the whole area. When I found a parking spot, I set out on a half mile hike, just to get to the start of the trail. Once there, it was a mile and a half over a rough and uneven lava field to reach the viewing site.
Here you can see what happened to the road:
Since there is no sunlight to compete with, the lava in the late afternoon and early evening looks like it is more abundant.
Unfortunately, my camera was not able to get adequate shots of the lava field at night, but here’s what I have.
Imagine a river of fire visible miles away, with the end of the river pouring tons of liquid rock into the ocean.
When the lava hits the ocean it is instantly quenched.
That night, I only hiked in the hour or so to get to the viewing site. Since I was by myself and not familiar with the area, I decided to make the night hike an expeditionary hike. Although I would have loved to hike all the way to the surface lava right away, I decided to make that my goal for the next day. I got back to the resort at about 10PM, after spending quite a while just enjoying the view out on the lava field. The next morning, I was back out there, but this time I could see everything around me and allowed me to go much faster.
Don’t worry, before I set out, I checked in with the ranger station and got the best description of the current flow (it’s obviously always changing and therefore in different locations). Also, the active surface flow was marked by the dozens of helicopter tours that circled overhead.
So, I set out to find fresh lava.
As you can see, the lava makes a surreal landscape.
Here’s what a lava tube looks like. This one looks like there was a clog and the pressure built up so much, it blew up!
Plants are already in the process of taking the land back.
The ground I was walking was formed sometime between 2003 and now (that’s how long the lava has been flowing in the area, at least).
The description I got was that the lava was somewhere between 200 and 400 feet above sea level and past the place where the lava pours into the ocean. You’d think that would be more than enough information to find flowing lava. Well, since the flowing lava can be hard see from a distance, it’s a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, I got to the area I thought the lava should be at and there was nothing but lots of steam coming from the cracks, indicative of lava below, but nothing on the surface. So, I headed up the hill (where I knew I would find lava … I could see the lava rivers a few hundred feet up the hill).
As I came up over a little ridge, suddenly, I was right in the middle of an active lava field! A little surprising, but very exciting!
I spent lots of time exploring and watching the flow. It was fascinating. Kind of hypnotizing like watching a campfire.
Here’s what the earth looks like as it’s being born.
After I was in a spot for a while I moved up the hill for a while. When I came back to my original spot, it was entirely COVERED! Luckily, the lava flows slowly (so I wasn’t in danger of being covered myself), but it was a strange feeling. Also, even though the lava is 2,000 degrees, you can still get pretty close (I was about a foot away getting some of these shots).
So, after I had my fill, I headed back to the ranger station and completed the 10 mile round trip hike in about 5 hours (it was rather slow going through the lava fields…).
After the lava, I wanted to see what a black sand beach was like, so I drove back up and around to the other side of the lava. There was a world famous black sand beach just down the coast. Unfortunately, it is now covered in about 70 feet of lava. There are still a couple other black sand beaches though. While they may not have the same allure as the old one, the one I was on was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with. So, I will leave it to your imagination to see a black sand beach with smooth black stones and a raging sea crashing and palm trees protecting the beach goers from the sun and rain.
Wow, what a weekend! 🙂
–Jim
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