Hawaii Volcanos National Park

When Peggy and I visited Hawaii’s youngest and most active volcano, Kīlauea, on January 17, we took this photo of lava erupting 200 feet into the air in the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.

The location of where we are staying for the month in Sea View, Hawaii at the Starlit Skies of Kalapana VRBO rental (Very nice). To provide perspective Hilo is 32 miles north of us via road and the Kīlauea Volcano is 46 miles to the west.

The Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire, Pele, is said to live up in the Kilauea Volcano. She’s been restless since we arrived, spewing lava into the air and covering the floor of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

A painting in the park’s headquarters showed an artist’s conception of Pele. You might say ‘she’s hot,’ too hot to handle in fact. The temperature of lava when it erupts is somewhere between between 1,300 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Early Polynesians who arrived by boat between 1000-1200 CE, have a myth describing how Pele ended up on Hawaii: she was escaping from her sister, Nāmakaokahai, goddess of the ocean. In one version of the myth, Nāmakaokahai was jealous of Pele’s beauty and strength; in another, Pele had seduced her husband. (Before you ask, the egg contains Pele’s younger sister and companion, Hi’iaka),

Scientists have a different theory of what makes Hawaii one of the most active volcano sites in the world. It is sitting on top of a hot spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where lava is rising up from the earth’s mantle. The island is making its way over the hotspot as the Pacific Tectonic Plate moves in a northwest direction at a speedy 2-4 inches per year. With the exception of Maui, the other islands have moved beyond the hotspot and their volcanoes are extinct. A new island named Loihi Seamount is currently being created about 20-30 miles southeast of where we are. You can expect to see it rise above the ocean— if you are around— in about a hundred thousand years or so.

Most people think of the Hawaiian Islands as being the green ones on the lower right. There are actually 132 islands, atolls and undersea volcanoes included in the chain that extends over 2600 miles toward Alaska’s Aleutian Islands! They all originated over the hot spot that the Big Island now occupies. The area within the dotted line is the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Reserve (Pronounced Pa-pa-hah-now-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah in Hawaiian.) You will be quizzed on the name and its pronunciation later. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map.)

Peggy and I standing in front of the Kīlauea Crater as the volcano does what active volcanoes do. The last time this particular section of the volcano erupted was almost 50 years ago. I was on the island at the time. The National Park had built a walkway out to the crater so visitors could look down into its seething mass.This time we were at least a mile away. Fortunately, we both have excellent telephoto lens.

We could look into the heart of the crater. This is a close up of the lava spewing out.

Two vents were blasting away. Note the lava flowing out of the vent on the right as it covered the crater floor.

A view of the vents and a portion of the floor.

A plume rose from the volcano and played hide and seek with the sun. (This is how far away the volcano looked without our telephoto lenses.)

The plume led to a photo op, and an observation…

At one point, the plume looked almost like a mushroom cloud created by an atomic bomb. It wasn’t, of course, but it did serve as a reminder that volcanoes are more than tourist attractions. They are dangerous, sometimes extremely so. Even the cloud carried a risk: Vog. Think smog but worse. When we were there, the National Park had posted a health advisory alert. We were also told to be on the lookout for Pele’s Hair. One could only ask, “what?” The National Park provided a photo…

Looks like hair to me, but who knew Pele was a blond? Actually it is volcanic glass produced from lava stretched into thin strands and transported by air. Touching is not advised. It can break into small splinters and enter your skin.

What we saw had already been broken into small pieces. I didn’t try to pick up one. Of much greater concern than the vog or Pele’s Hair is what magma decides to do when it erupts as lava. It depends on the type of lava. All magma holds gas that is highly compressed under intense pressure in the earth’s mantle. As the lava approaches the surface, the gas expands and has to escape in one way or another. Thicker lava, like that found along the Pacific Rim where the Pacific Plate is plunging under continental plates, holds the gas, not allowing it to escape. The result is violent explosions that lead to the creation of steep, conical shaped, composite mountains like California’s Mt. Shasta shown below.

A photo of Mt. Shasta I took while I was hiking down the Pacific Crest Trail. The devastation created by these explosions can be extensive. I flew over Mt. St. Helens a couple of weeks after it erupted in 1980 and thousands of trees had been blown down by the eruption.

This photo by Jim Hughes of the US Forest Service shows what I saw. Between asphyxiation and burns, 57 people lost their lives because of the eruption.

The lava flowing out of the volcanoes on Hawaii is much thinner. The gas can escape in bubbles. It doesn’t have to explode and is much ‘kinder,’ so to speak— if you don’t mind seeing your homes and roads burn and disappear under thick layers of lava. No one was killed in the major 2018 eruption that took place near where Peggy and I are staying. People could walk faster than the lava was flowing. The eruption will be the subject of our next post on Hawaii.

But first, as promised, we will return to our fall journey down the Danube River and the historic town of Kalocsa, Hungary where we visit a library featuring thousands of illustrated books that are hundreds of years old. I found this Adam and Eve illustration humorous. Is Adam holding a duck? (The words underneath are mine.)

“Eat the apple,” Snake urges. “God made it. What could possibly go wrong?”

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

It’s National Park Week. One of my blogging friends reminded me. Somehow I lost track of time and became so wrapped up in the minutia of life that the week had arrived before I realized it was happening. Shame on me.

The United States and many other nations around the world have done a magnificent job of setting aside national parks. We owe it to ourselves to go out and explore these treasures. And, we owe it to our great, great, great, great-grandchildren to protect these sites of rare natural beauty for future generations.

It won’t be easy. There will always be people who believe financial gain outweighs any other consideration. Why save thousand-year-old redwood trees when they can be turned into highly profitable redwood decks?

This 1500 year old redwood is located in Redwoods National Park on the northern coast of California.

Several years ago, Peggy and I set a goal to visit all of America’s National Parks. With the exception of Kobuk Valley and Lake Clark in Alaska, we’ve succeeded. It has been an incredible journey. Our travels have taken us from Denali National Park in Alaska to the Dry Tortugas National Park off the Florida Keys.

In addition to driving through and hiking in these parks, I have also backpacked in 13, biked through five, and kayaked or rafted in three. Once I even organized a winter ski trek into Denali National Park where we slept out in minus 30-degree weather and listened to wolves howl. That was a learning experience…

Since I couldn’t escape to a national park this week, I did the next best thing; I went through photos of parks Peggy and I have taken. All I could think of was wow– what incredible beauty!

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

An active volcano in Hawaii Volcanos National Park on the Island of Hawaii.

Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming. A sign warned us to look out for an active grizzly bear.

Arches National Park, Utah

Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California. I once woke up near here with a bear standing on top of me.

Fall colors of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Sand dunes in Death Valley National Park.

The green of Olympic National Park in Washington.

Lesser known national parks such as Great Basin in Nevada also hold great charm and beauty. This photo features the van Peggy and I travelled in for four years as we wandered around North America.

Spectacular scenery is only part of the national park story. Wildlife, birds, insects, reptiles, flowers and history add to the experience.

Peggy and I found this beauty swimming through the water at Everglades National Park in Florida.

And this striking Black Buzzard was another Everglades resident.

We found this Luna Moth on the Natchez National Parkway.

We found this Luna Moth on the Natchez Trace National Parkway.

Brown Pelicans are a common visitor at Pt. Reyes National Seashore.

Brown Pelicans are common visitors at Pt. Reyes National Seashore.

Peggy and I are great fans of Native America rock art, much of which is protected in National Parks and at National Monuments. This man with his big hands and fat little dogs has always been one of my favorites.

Peggy and I are great fans of Native America rock art, much of which is protected in national parks and at national monuments. We have several thousand photos from different sites. This one from Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado/Utah has always been a favorite because of the big hands and fat little dogs.

It never hurts to complete a blog with a pretty flower. We found this Foxglove growing in Olympic National Park.

It never hurts to complete a blog with a pretty flower, even if it goes on and on. (grin) We found this Foxglove growing in Olympic National Park.

NEXT BLOG: I hope you have enjoyed my two diversions over the past week because of Earth Day and National Park Week. On Monday I will return to Europe and Rome’s historic Colosseum.

Wandering through Time and Place

Exploring the world with Curtis and Peggy Mekemson

Living Under an Active Volcano Where Pele Reigns Supreme… Hawaii 1

It’s National Park Week 2013… April 20-28