We got to head into a real lava tube! The first part is lit up and is a nice walk. When we got to the end, you can either head back up and back to the car, or keep doing in the unlit part--we went the rest of the way in the tube! There are no lights, and it was cool, very damp, water dripping from the ceiling and sides, rocks and drops, parts where you have to duck down, and very very dark! We all had flashlights, and even with our lights it was kind of scary!
After that we took the Devastation Trail. That led us to an overlook of the Kiluauea Iki Crater. After looking down and seeing all the steam vents we decided that we had to get down there and see it close up! So we took the 4 mile hike down the to crater floor. The hike starts out with a beautiful walk through the rain forest. Did you think there would be a rainforest on the edge of a volcano? At certain points we could see the Halema'uma'u crater in the distance with a huge plume of steam coming from the hot magma just below the surface. This spot where we were waking erupted in 1959. A fountain sometimes as high as 1900 feet of spurting lava drained into this basin. It said there was enough lava flowing that it could cover a football field 15 feet deep in lava every minute! People came from all over the world to see the lava, and looked at it from the same spot that we started our hike! Cars lined up sometimes 10 miles long just to see it. Anyway, back to our hike. We walked through the rainforest and down to the crater floor. In many spots there was steam rising up from the bottom. Apparently there is still hot magma below the surface. When rain water seeps down, it boils it and steam comes up. We were able to walk right over and into some of these steam vents! It was HOT and STEAMY!
After our hike we drove to more steam vents, and drove further on to see a closer view of the crater. It was pretty amazing to walk on new land, born in 1959, and know that not too far below us are rivers of hot magma!
We took so many pictures that I couldn't pick through them, so I put them ALL up in a gallery. Some are blurry and some many be redundant, but it gives a great peek at our day!
Click here for the gallery.
4 comments:
My favorite is the family portrait. Looks very relaxing......Ferre's are so excited to go there. Don't have too much fun without us......j/k
Did you know that dad and I went to the lava tubes and we saw the steam coming up from the cooled lava? You've just taken sightseeing to a new level. Good for you!!!
I saw all your pix. Josh could compete with Pele's hair. The vegetation was weird. Everyone has the "hang loose" sign down pat but too much walking for me....
beautiful pixs! love the volcano and lava cracks! everyone looks so buff and in shape! good lookin' family:)
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