Hawaii Adventure - Day 6 - 22 August 2012

8:30 am - We started off the day meeting our tour guide, Pat, at the Long’s Drugs parking lot not far from our condo.  We traveled on a very winding road South along the coast to where we would get our first glimpse at a real volcano.  There were 10 other people on the tour with us: 2 from Alberta, Canada, 2 from Manitoba, 2 from Minnesota and 4 from Texas.  Along the way, Pat related some history of the island, especially agriculture.  She pointed out coffee trees along the way.  She noted that Kona is noted for its flavorful coffee (not that we would know).  It gets its good flavor from picking the ‘cherries’ by hand only when they are ripe.  Evidently others pick the cherries with machines so not all of them are ripe and have a bitter flavor.  She also talked a lot about volcanoes and the different kinds of lava.  It is magma below the ground and lava above.  One (Pahoehoe) is hotter and dries smoother.  The other (A'a) is much cooler (still about 700° F) and dries more in chunks.  We saw both kinds on our drive up north to the zipline.  At one point, Fawn started feeling carsick because of the curves in the road, so we asked to trade to a seat with air vents that would blow on us.  The kind couple from Minnesota agreed—what a wonderful thing!

10:30 am - We stopped at a bakery for a bathroom break and purchase of our lunch sandwiches.  Fawn & I both had some yummy pastries sprinkled with sugar.

11:30 am -  We entered the Volcanoes National Park and stopped at a campground for lunch.  This is a photo of the site:

There also was a valley nearby with plants that are reclaiming the land after a lava flow.  This is ohia, the ‘Survivor Tree’, the first tree to start growing after a lava flow.  Notice the pretty red flowers, called the Lehua blossom.

12:30 pm - After lunch we drove further into the park to visit the volcano caldera.  As we passed the military R&R site, we saw the Hawaii state bird, the nene (a type of goose), grazing in the grass near the flagpole.  Not a great picture because it was taken out the window of the van.  Pat said many people go their entire vacation without seeing this bird.  (It is on the endangered species list).

1:00 pm - We arrived at the visitors center where we could see the volcano.  Here is the main Kīlauea caldera as viewed from the Volcano Center viewing area.

The caldera has been at 3 main levels as evidenced by the rings around the outside.  The gas escaping is a combination of steam and sulfur dioxide.  Fortunately the wind was blowing away from us—otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to view it.  Here we are in front of the caldera.

1:30 pm - We hiked in the rain forest near the Kīlauea Iki caldera.  It is near the huge main caldera, but doesn’t have gasses coming out of it—just a few steam vents.  We could see down into it at many points on the trip.  Some people were hiking the mile-long trail through the caldera itself.

It was good that we brought jackets because the rain forest got rain that day.  We didn’t mind—especially since they have been suffering from a draught of late.

We saw the amazing ferns that are one of the first plants to come up after a lava flow.  Here is the first shoot coming up:

Here is how the plant looks as it has gotten larger and is sending out a new frond:

At the end of the walk, we came to the area were we could enter the Thurston Lava Tube. This is a photo inside the tube.  It is big enough to stand in.

The end of the tube as we came out

We hiked back to the van the same way we came—overlooking the Kīlauea Iki caldera.

3:45 pm -  Pat stopped by the side of the road to pick some wild Hawaiian orchids.  We had seen some before, but they were in the Volcano National Park.  It is a federal offense to take anything from the park.  Fawn had said she wanted a picture of them and Pat remembered once we left the park.

4:00 pm - It was time to say goodbye to Pat—the guides have 12-hour shifts—and say hello to Shawn, our guide and driver for the evening.

It was time to say goodbye to Pat—the guides have 12-hour shifts—and say hello to Shawn, our guide and driver for the evening.

Shawn explained how the "lava trees" were formed

4:30 pm - Our first stop with Shawn was to see the lava trees.  These are lava formations that were created as lava flowed around trees, burning them, but then cooling around the shape of the trunk.

In the same area was a huge rhododendron working its way up two trees that were growing side-by-side.

5:00 pm - We drove to a beautiful little cove to spend some time admiring what most of the beaches on the island look like.  Not much sand—just lava rock.

5:30 pm - We drove through some small towns on our way to a black sand beach owned by Uncle Robert and his family.  They are native Hawaiians who own property that was spared during the 1990 lava flow.

6:00 pm - We arrived at the beach and walked to it over the lava that covered the entire town but Uncle Robert’s house or property.

Black sand beach created when lava reaches the sea and explodes

Uncle Robert's family hosts a ‘farmer’s market’ and festival every Wednesday evening.  Part of the parking lot is on the lava flow.

Cars parked on natural "black top"

6:30 pm -  We ate dinner at a public restaurant in the area, then were able to browse the shops and listen to the music of the festival.

 

7:15 pm - We traveled to the most amazing site yet—a spot about 3 miles from the current lava flow.  A few months ago, we could have traveled closer, but the lava has since covered the road.  This photo doesn’t do it justice, but at least I captured some of the orange and yellow glow we could see from that far.  The flow is still burning homes every few months.  We saw several homes on the lava flow—one that was started but the owner stopped partway through because of the flow.  The others are living dangerously.

 

Near the center of the photo is the orange glow of the lava
as seen at night

8:30 pm -  We started our long journey back to the condo, driving through Hilo and taking the same route we had driven on Monday coming back from the falls.  Many of us slept part of the way—it had been a long day.

11:00 pm - We arrived at our condo tired, but satisfied that we had experienced a lot of things that would not have been possible if we had tried to do it on our own.