LAVA!

Several days after Jim and I went exploring north of Hilo and found the fabulous Botanical Gardens, we decided to poke around to the south of Hilo on the side roads. The first thing we came across was Lava Tree State Park. This park has the remains of O'hia trees forever encased in lava which flowed several hundred years ago. The lava left behind these vertical, hollow lava tubes.

One thing I noticed is that ferns seem to be one of the first vegetation to return after an eruption. This was a type I hadn't seen before.

Right near the entrance to the walking path was this large chasm or fault, which was created during a particularly explosive eruption in 1790.

The vegetation which has grown back from earlier eruptions makes a very lush canopy. Most of the tall trees are Monkeypod.

On down the road a bit we came across this.

This used to be Highway 130 (Kalapana-Kapoho Road), but a recent eruption (July 2010) of Kilauea has made it impassable.

Unfortunately it was not viewing hours, but we did see this from the same spot.

We took the other fork in the road and came to what was left of the village of Kalapana, which was set up for tourists to see lava. After a nice lunch (Ono fish and chips!) I set out on the trail, hoping to see the source of the steam, leaving Jim to enjoy a nice cigar in the shade.

Later I learned that I was walking toward Kaimu Beach, famous for its black sand and for being buried under 50 feet of lava (along with the town of Kaimu) in the 1990 eruption of Kilauea.

As I walked along, the steam got closer and I had hopes of seeing lava flowing into the sea.


If you look closely in this photo (double clicking will enlarge it) you can see the "river" of steam coming down the mountainside, starting in the upper right, near the horizon and shadowing the treeline.



For something so destructive, the lava certainly was beautiful in texture, color and shape.



Here was my first glimpse of the new shoreline at Kaimu Bay.


And this is as close as I got to the steam, as I decided not to hike another mile or two to get closer.

As always, I am impressed by the tenacity of life. Twenty years later and there are all kinds of plants growing right out of the lava,

including the ubiquitous fern.

Many people who travel to Hawaii go to Volcanoes National Park, and I am sure it is wonderful, however, I can't help but feel like we got a more personal look at lava, and without the tour buses!

Next, we splurge for our last night in Hawaii.

Audrey