It was a fairly troublesome night. I was fairly warm and the wind kept blowing a section if the tent inwards near my head. My mattress deflated through the night and I tossed and turned. But, I did not panic when at midnight a group of campers arrived to pitch their tent for I was asleep, and frustratingly, I did not feel the earth tremor that Ian felt through the night, for I was asleep. Ian did not wake me. Instead I awoke with pins and needles and a slight backache.
I was served breakfast in bed consisting of two chocolate mini rolls and then I was turfed out of bed to pack up my gear. After setting the car alarm off and packing up the tent we left the campsite at 09:00. Our earliest Hawaiian start yet!
As we were in the area we made our first stop at the end of Hilina Pali road, overlooking the 12 mile 1,500 foot cliff slump where the weight of the lava flow had shunted the cliff face down 1,500 feet. At my viewpoint lay a tribute to a man who lost his life in 1975 following a tragedy of an earthquake and a tsunami. He was twenty seven years old. On the journey out of Hilina Pali road I kept asking Ian to stop the car so I could capture the incredible vistas of old lava flows and the beautiful ohia lehua plants.
At the top of Hilina Pali road we drove the length of Chain of Craters road as far as we could and after a momentary journal writing session while the rains ceased we began our trek to the April 2003 lava flow, where the lava flow had crossed the road.
Keeping a conservative distance from the volatile bench we hiked over the lava flow for a while, vaguely following the path of the buried road, the one we would have been able to drive down earlier this month! The odd partially buried or burned road sign revealed we were on the right path. The lava, once solidified, makes some remarkably beautiful patterns. As the hottest lava, puhoehoe, created from the Kilauea eruption solidifies and cools it can form very smooth surfaces, or very rope like surfaces. The rope like appearance is certainly the most abundant from the early April 2003 flow. Interestingly, large rocks formed by lava split open under pressure from the continuously pushing red lava and revealed is a beautiful spectrum of colours. At the same incidence hot red lava forces its way through the crack created by the splitting and in most cases we saw that smoother pipes of puhoehoe lava have resided in the cracks. At unexpected occasions we found the previous road untouched by red lava amidst the vast field of puhoehoe lava. It was very surreal.
After an hour of hiking and not really viewing the steam plume created by the red lava meeting saltwater at its ocean entry, even in the distance, we turned around in the rain and faced another mile hike across lava fields to the car. We were being chased by yet another raincloud, so we crouched to take cover at intervals, but that didn't stop us from pausing for more spectacular lava formations along the way.
When we reached the road we gawped across a black sand beach formed from the brittle lava breaking down by the impact of the waves. It was an attractive beach but not one you would like to be on for the surf was pretty fierce and the rock face was pretty hostile.
I had little film on me at this point and so I let Ian begin hiking across the lava flow to the red lava eruption site, somewhere close to where we viewed red lava by night. I returned to the car to collect some more film and on the way back to the beginning of the trail to red lava I took a view over the Holei Sea Arch, which was taking quite a beating from the waves 100 feet below me.
When I began the trail to the red lava eruption site I was advised by a ranger that the trail I walked the other night would have been a different one to what existed now. The new trail is estimated as a 50 minute walk. And I thought the other trail was long! Eek! Excited by the thought of seeing lava again I made tracks across the lava field following the new trail, which had extensions added to extensions from the other night. The rain persisted to target people as they made their way across the lava field.
I reached Ian 25 minutes later and found him waiting besides some glowing vents in nearby lava. We dodged the rain and walked the remaining short distance to the breakouts that had attracted the hordes of tourists.
The sight was incredible. The red lava was oozing out from everywhere you looked, pushing from behind, forcing hardening lava to fold over itself to appear like coiled ropes. Other pieces of rock were being toppled over to reveal other breakouts and rivers of red lava. It was beautiful. Daringly, Ian and I ventured a little from the crowd and discovered our very own breakout appear before our eyes. The heat given off from the 2,500 degree Fahrenheit source is intense and it can not be tolerated for long. Every gust of wind is welcomed instantly. Yet watching, anticipating and appreciating the birth of land is addictive and fascinating. Neither of us left the scene or turned our backs until we had both exhausted our film supplies and had stared at red lava until our eyeballs were sore. It's amazing how quickly an area can be filled by new rock and the landscape is altered forever. Witnessing these events is remarkable. I could have stayed all day if only I had another hundred films or so...
Despite our early retreat in search of accommodation, we found that the whole of Volcano village had been booked up and following some help from the guy in Kilauea Chalet whereby he made several telephone calls on our behalf, he booked us into a motel in Waiohinu for USD 38. It wouldn't be luxury but it would be dry and would enable us to shower again! We left wondering if he was so helpful because he was so keen to rid himself of smelly travellers...
Fearing we wouldn't be able to find anywhere to eat later on we returned to the Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano before finding our way to Shirakawi Motel where we checked in and enjoyed the luxury of a hot shower and some beer while trying to catch up with our journals. After capturing some big bugs in the tumblers Ian suspected the room had fleas. We'll wait to see in the morning...
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.