13 Feb 2022
Today, I drove up to Volcano National Park to do some hiking and find some lava!
There are still a lot of closures, which change based on conditions, so I started by driving the north side of the park, to Uēkahuna at the end of Crater Rim drive, to see what the view was like from there:
Probably not the greatest for lava viewing. Plus, the road was closed past here, so no hiking either. Time to head the other direction.
When Matt and I were here a few years ago, Thurston Lava Tube was close, but it was open today, so I stopped to check that out:
It is lit, but I brought one of my scuba torches along and the flash on my camera is pretty powerful:
You used to be able to hike past those stairs if you had your own flashlight (that part’s not lit), but it was closed for now.
A mountain strawberry?
I kept driving south, toward the Devastation Trail overlook area, hoping to scout out the best place to see some lava:
The canyon walls are so pretty!
Hey, look, lava!
I found it!
I did hike up the trail a ways (because I could), but the view wasn’t any better:
An offering to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano deity:
Since I had my spot scouted out, and had a really good parking spot (I’ve heard it gets busy later in the day), I didn’t want to wander too far, so I started hiking some of the trails accessible from my parking lot:
It started off shaded and full of life, but quickly became quite barren:
Devastation trail, an easy 0.5 mile (one way) path to Pu’upua’i Overlook:
Last time Matt and I were here, we hiked that trail across Kīlauea Iki Crater. Today would actually have been a good day to hike it again- it was cool (mid 60s), overcast, breezy… but I wasn’t really feeling it, and it’s a good thing too- it started raining partway through my next hike:
Glad that sign was there to warn people about that sinkhole:
This sinkhole had its own sinkhole!
There were also some pretty flowers:
And a berry bush:
Don’t eat the berries- it’s what the nēnē eat (in addition to grass, which is what these guys are foraging):
Pretty birds, but not the brightest bulbs.
I still had a lot of time to kill before dark, so I drove the rest of Chain of Craters road and found the Hōlei Sea Arch:
Unfortunately, the sun was already past its zenith, so this picture isn’t much better than the one I took the last time we were here.
I hiked along the shoreline a bit:
It was much warmer (low 80s) here
And very windy, though the wind wasn’t blowing quite the right way to make impressive wave crashes here
That dark rainy section is right over the crater, where I’m hoping to see lava tonight. Fingers cross the rain holds off (or blows through) and that it keeps the crowds down:
The crater was definitely steamier after the rain rolled through:
I spotted a pair of these Common waxbills, but as soon as I pulled out my camera, they hopped further back into this bush:
Tiny plant love:
More nēnē food:
Canyon wall coloration:
Now that it’s getting dark, you can see the cracks between the flows:
It started bubbling!
Me and some hot lava:
As it got darker, the flows became more and more pronounced:
And I found a second vent? another glowing area of lava:
Almost everyone was just shooting picture with their phones:
Once the sun set, the glow illuminating the vapor clouds was really quite impressive!
Goodnight, volcano!