Ian was up and out of the tent by 07:30. He discovered that there was a bit more to the campsite than we had thought. I had been a bit chilly in the night so made the most of my cosiness inside the tent until Ian returned and demanded that I get up. The sun was now shining but the tent was covered in dew so we left it standing and drove into Volcano to get some breakfast in the Lava Rock Cafe.
Feeling refreshed, if not clean, we returned to the National Park and began our circuit of the Crater rim.
Our first stop was at Sulpur Banks. This was very reminiscent of New Zealand's Craters of the Moon. Steam was billowing out every possible vent and the earth had been discoloured by the sulphuric gases. The sunshine reflected prettily on the vents and the crystals. The sulphur fumes were quite strong but I remember there being a stronger smell of bad eggs at Craters of the Moon and other geothermal sites on the North Island of New Zealand.
We drove past some steam Vents and then made a stop at the Kilauea overlook and what we saw was immensely breathtaking. It was incredible and way beyond comprehension. The magnitude of the Kilauea Caldera is simply impossible to convey, photographically or literally. It's bigger than you can possibly imagine. Bigger than that even! No, bigger still! And bigger still! It was absolutely incredible. We had chosen a good day to circuit the caldera, the sun was shining and the light was good. We could clearly see all that the caldera had to offer us from our vantage point.
Further along the drive we passed the Southwest Rift which had created a wide crack in the land. The Southeast Rift is responsible for the current eruption of Kilauea.
At Halema'uma'u Crater we peered over into it and towards Mauna Loa which could be seen in the distance. The Crater would definitely have been a beautiful sight when molten. Its crust, however, is only so thick and beneath the hardened surface red lava remains, as with the entire 2 mile diameter Kilauea Caldera!
Keanakako'i Crater used to be a mining site for Hawaiian people from which they acquired materials for making adzes for weapons. Across the road, looking back over the Caldera, we saw the results of a 1982 earthquake which occurred exactly twenty one years ago today.
Pu'u Pua'i is a volcanic cinder cone known as Eruption Hill which was formed during the 1959 eruption of Kilauea volcano and Kilauea Iki. It would have been a show to watch as 1,900 feet lava fountains rose into the air. Again, beneath the hardened crust of Kilauea Iki Crater is a mass of molten lava. How exciting!?! The group of children walking on the crater floor were completely dwarfed by the crater walls. Around the bottom of the crater walls a line can be distinguished which represents the previous level of the lava lake prior to the volume decreasing as lava flowed into lava tubes away from the crater.
The children emerged from Kilauea Iki Crater as we arrived at the car park for Thurston Lava Tube, Nahuku. A large group of school children were congrugated at the entrance so we did our best to precede them through the tunnel, with success. Much like walking in a well lit damp tunnel, we passed through the large lava tube which travelled for quite some distance. Tree roots were suspended from the ceiling of the tube and different layers along the tube walls could be seen. These show the levels of the lava that passed through the tube before hardening on the tube walls as the last volume of lava exited. At the end of the lit tube the tube continued for a further 300 metres and so with our very weak battery powered torches, Ian and led ourselves further into Thurston Lava Tube. It was significantly darker, as you would expect from a tunnel, and very wet. Giant tree roots were suspended through the ceiling. In parts the ceiling seemed to partly rise by less than a foot but enough to notice with torchlight. Once the natural light extinguished behind me I began to consider our position in the reaches of an old lava tube and wondered if we were in the best place should we encounter and earthquake. The moment I had this thought I lost my courage and headed back to the entrance to wait for Ian to explore and return. I involved myself with a section of the lava tube wall while I waited.
The view from Kilauea Iki Crater was still breathtaking from the next lookout. Steam still vents from the crater floor and its thrilling to know that molten lava lies just beneath the crust on the surface right in front of you.
My film supply was tinkering on the edge of needing to be replenished and Ian was using his last digital tape so we left the National Park and returned to Hilo's Walmart to satisfy our needs. We failed to secure accommodation at Dolphin Bay Hotel for the next two nights but I secured a room at Hilo Seaside Hotel instead. While we were searching for accommodation in Hilo we saw no less than four aircraft circle over Hilo Bay and land at the airport. Each was without passenger windows and had a trailing hose out of the rear of the fuselage which led us to believe that they may have been refuelling planes, or perhaps they were just training pilots? After checking in I discovered that someone's luggage had been left in the room so left the keys in the capable hands of the hotel staff to remove the luggage while we had a late lunch at McDonalds before returning to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, We collected the now dry tent from its airing position at Kulanaokuaiki campground and retreated to the eruption site again.
We were keen to arrive before sunset to try to film the glow of the red lava at low light levels but as we walked towards the beginning of the trail and became separated I realised I didn't bring my torch with me and so my viewing time would be limited. Luckily, the lava didn't appear to be very active this evening although there was still plenty of heat being emitted from the molten lava and so I wasn't disappointed when it became necessary to leave the lava for the night. We have had some excellent viewing sessions of red lava and hopefully I will have some extraordinary photographs to accompany my memories.
On returning to Hilo again we showered and scribbled some of our journals before retiring at midnight, under the flight path of traffic to the eastern airport of the Big Island.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.