Volcano National Park

Today was our chance to play "Baldwins vs the Volcano". We hoped to see Kilauea, and if possible, flowing lava. It was a long drive from Kona, about 96 miles from the west coast down to South Point (the southernmost tip of Hawaii, and in fact the most southerly point in the USA), then we turned north-east following the Volcano Highway. The south east is where all the new volcanic activity is occurring, which seems fairly obvious given the distribution of the now extinct or dormant volcanoes and the movement of the Pacific Plate.

No matter where you go on this Island you see evidence of lava flows. There are white sandy beaches, black sandy beaches, and areas where lava rock just flows into the ocean. This evidence of past activity seems quite awesome. Some lava has no regrowth of vegetation due to lack of one or other mineral, and looks like it came out of the ground yesterday.

Apart from these sights and driving past the Kona Coffee plantation, most of the countryside was quite boring with some scrubby patches of vegetation.

We reached the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and drove in. An elderly park ranger spoke to us and told us what we should see. Part of the Crater Rim Road was closed for repairs, which meant we would have to drive down both sides and double back. She also told us that Halemaumau, the "Fire Pit" - a crater within Kilauea was not active at present, but lava was coming out of the right zones to the south-east near Puuoo. It requires a nine mile hike to actually see any fresh lava. We knew this was impossible today.

We went over to Volcano House to pick up a snack lunch - hot dogs. From there we got our first glimpse of Kilauea crater. Here as on all the Hawaiian Islands are lots of Japanese tourists, and one hears their "oohs" and "ahs" and knows their country of origin without even turning to see.

One thing I forgot back at the visitor centre was the 10 minute film on the volcanic history of this area. Footage of Halemaumau and its fountain of fire; the a'a lava and pahoehoe and so on. Pete & I remembered this place from a couple of years ago when a couple who came in late couldn't see where they were going.

From Volcano House we drove down one side of Crater Rim Drive, stopping at the sulfur banks where Sean didn't want to get out. He was terrified when he read the warning about TOXIC FUMES being dangerous to one's health. Next were the steam vents. These are dotted all over the place. Rainwater runs down into fault lines and the heat from the underlying magma evaporates it.

Further on was the Thurston Lava Tube. A long hollow cave. This time it was Joel's turn to be nervous and Sean was quick to seek revenge, as he had copped some flak back at the sulphur banks. We stopped briefly at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory then around the drive to Halemaumau and read about its series of eruptions. We had to turn back as the road was closed from here and drove all the way back past the visitor centre.

We stopped to look at Kilauea Iki, but the rain had closed in by this. Here was a spectacular fountain 1000 feet high. Then around to the Devastation Trail with the rain still coming down. A wooden walkway through what was once tropical forest, but the eruption of Kilauea Iki produced a cinder cone and lots of pumice and ash which destroyed a large area. Some regrowth occurring, but no sign of touch sensitive plants.

Some beautiful rainbows around about this time. Also noticed that here an earlier version of Crater Rim Road had been covered. With the day fast disappearing we drove down the Chain of Craters Road, stopping once or twice to look at the 1974 lava flows and the Western Rift section, but we wanted to get to the end where the road had been closed by a lava flow in 1990. We got there and clambered around on it for a while. No chance of making the hike to the visitors centre which had been destroyed.

All of us were very excited about the flow patterns and colour of the lava. Then the rain came down and really soaked us. The sun was going down and it was time to look for petrol in Volcano, a bit of a snack and endure the long drive back in wet clothing. We ordered a pizza when we got back and were eating it at 9:30 before climbing into bed.Read more