Lava Flow...hmmm...

[craigwatanabe]

Dammit! I hate it when you making a long post and you time out when you post it and you lose everything you wrote!

Take Two!

My wife decides we should go see the newly created viewing area where the lava is crossing the road. It's nine miles from our home so we figure let's do it!

Seven miles in we have to stop because of the line of parked cars on the unpaved cinder road. It's 7pm and we begin our 2-mile walk past the line of cars to the front of the line. When we get there we find it's another 1/2-mile to the viewing area. What's another half mile right? When we get to the roped off area guarded by police I strain to see the lava which is about another 100-yards away. I see burning coals from a distance, is what it looks like and am greatly disappointed.

A woman tells me there's a better spot to view the lava dropping off into the ocean and points to an area where a few people are winding their way to the ocean along a marked pathway thru the pahoehole and a'a lava fields. "They look like night marchers" I tell my wife as our family mark the end of the group of hikers.

When we get there...it was a 3/4-mile hike, we see more of the same...a faint glow from several hundred feet away oozing into the ocean. Again disappointed. Then it rains.

My kids want to stay a bit as the group of hikers make their way back up in the rainstorm so we hang out with the state workers watching the area. The rain stops and we all begin the 3/4-mile hike back up to the main viewing area including the workers. It's almost 10pm and the viewing area is shutting down.

We get to the top and are pretty much the last to leave and we begin the 2-1/2 mile walk back to our car as the Police, Civil Defense and state workers pass us in their 4-wheel drive SUV's leaving our family walking in total darkness except our flashlights and light sticks.

So here we are my family walking along an unlit unpaved cinder road with a lava flow to our backs a few hundred feet away on an active volcano. "Right" I'm telling my wife who is slowly moving faster in the direction of our car. "This is insane" I'm telling myself as I see three light sticks of varying colors (representing three of my kids) bouncing around (occasionally falling down) in the distance ahead of me.

Okay I know the yellow light stick is my 4-year old son Jesse as it's closer to the ground and the flashing lights from his Go Diego Go sneakers was the dead give away. My wife and kids are slowly increasing the gap between them and myself as we walk to the car in absolute darkness. I'm pulling up the rear just to make sure we don't leave anyone behind.

An hour has passed and I can hear my 10-year old complaining, "are we there yet?" My 12-year old replies, "We've been walking for only an hour!"

There are no cars on the road as we continue the walk back. About a half hour later I figure we must be getting closer to our Kid Hauler minivan and I pull out my car remote and begin to press press press the unlock button, looking in vain for the flashing lights of our van in response. Nothing.

Then it happened. The distinct amber driving lights of our minivan responds to me. My kids almost walked right past our lone van in the dark night. We go home, we shower, and we go to sleep, all for this one photo below.

[Random]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Dammit! I hate it when you making a long post and you time out when you post it and you lose everything you wrote!

Next time use Notepad (or any plain text editor). Then copy-n-paste.

[timkona]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

But remember, in spite of the long walk, the dark night, the unimpressive (to your mind) viewing, and the grumbling inside your head, that your children had a terrific time. Those are the kinds of times that they will remember when they are old. And they will think of their great Dad, who had the time and energy to take them.

Good on ya, Craig.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Yeah my wife kept reminding me that we're creating memories for the kids. I guess when I was a kid in the early 70's I had an opportunity to walk right up to the advancing lava in about the same area. But that time I got to poke the slow flowing Pahoehoe with a stick and actually melted my slipper on the hot molten rock. Viewing from that distance didn't have the same intensity so it was a downer for me, especially after that long walk.

To me the walk was the best part. My kids were afraid of the sheer darkness and isolation of where we were at that time of the night but for me I've never been afraid of the dark and I've never had any issues with the Mana here on the Big Island or any island for that matter. One of my friends from Molokai told me I have strong Mana and that keeps the bad ones away. I didn't feel much of anything at this viewing area.

Come to think of it I believe people like Auntie and Cyn also have strong Mana.

But for me I can feel the land and sea talk to me where ever I go. Sometimes I feel really good and other times I feel sad as I enter certain areas of a building or landscape. To me the ocean has stronger mana than the land.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Cool story. I enjoyed it!
And yes, memories of times like this are the best part of life.

[Amati]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

We were at a family reunion last week in Hilo, and went to the flow in the evening (Saturday night, the first day the of viewing at the newly opened site). We were lucky, we drove right up to the beginning of the trail. Our walk was only about 1/2 mile. At the viewing area, we could get within 5 feet of the slow [very very slow] moving red hot lava. It was a beautiful night. Clear. Cool. No fumes. No rain.

The path leading to the water's edge was closed due to lava having run over that path the same day it opened, but even though that part was not open the rest of the viewing area was wonderful.

We flew home the next day with memories we'll never forget.

[dyasu]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Almost a decade ago I hiked out to the lava flow area with my family. The hike round trip took about 4 hours across the lava fields. I'll never forget standing there watching red hot lava pour into the ocean. I mean, they tell you about lava forming new land in school, but you don't really appreciate the concept or the beauty of it until you're standing right there.

[tutusue]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

[...]To me the ocean has stronger mana than the land.

Bingo! I couldn't have said it more succinctly myself. Living next to the ocean is a necessity for me, not a luxury. Nature's little valium is what I call it! Love those negative ions.

[LikaNui]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Any of you having any problems because of the sulfur dioxide from the new vent at Halema`uma`u Crater? It was featured in this story in today's Advertiser, including:

A new gas vent that broke through the lower east wall of Halema'uma'u Crater this week has abruptly doubled the already elevated levels of sulfur dioxide in the area, with the gas emitted from the crater now at its highest levels since measurements began in 1979.
Sulphur dioxide emissions on Thursday reached 1,800 to 2,000 tonnes per day, far above the 150 to 200 tonnes per day that is typical at the crater. (A tonne is a metric ton.)

I may not be a math genius, but 1,800 to 2,000 seems to be a lot more than "double" the normal 150 to 200.
And check the photo and caption in the story. The caption says:

A view of the east wall of Halema'uma'u Crater on March 13 shows the emergence of a new gas vent. The crater overlook is circled. Note the large gas plume.

Well, yeah. It was kind of hard to NOT see it:

[mel]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

......we shower, and we go to sleep, all for this one photo below.

Ha. I echo the others about "good story" and good memories for the kids. For me would have cost me at least $49 each way just to fly to the Big Island, take a chance, drive out all the way over there from Hilo or worst, Honokaa, walk those couple of miles through the lava and then get NO photo because the flow stopped.

At least you got one photo and glow.

The last time I saw active lava was after a hike to the edge of a crack near Mauna Ulu volcano back in 1974 and throwing a rock into the lava.

The last time I saw glowing active lava of any type was the very, very brief Mauna Kea eruption of 1975.... we saw some kind of glow from the bottom near Pohakuloa.

But you know, hiking excursions that you take as a kid are memorable. My parents took me to both of these events mentioned above and I still remember them fondly. I also remember even older trips I took to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that I took with my parents as a kid in the late 1960s to see Halemaumau eruptions.

I think seeing and photographing that big sulfur cloud coming out of Kileauea crater would have been cool.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

So far down where I live (near the ocean in HPP on Makuu Drive) we haven't been affected by the increased Sulphur Dioxide emissions...yet. We've been having some really decent winds off the ocean so it's keeping the vog away from us, however I presume those living upwind from that new release must be dying from all that sulphur smell.

You know one of my more memorable hikes in Volcano National Park was the one on the Chain of Craters Road where you have to hike in almost a mile of lava fields to some piko petroglyphs . When we got there you could see the Piko markings. The area is at the base of huge cliffs where prior lava flows dropped off and continued into the nearby ocean creating a lava shelf where we stood.

I would stand there looking at the scenery and told my wife as my kids explored that ancient human habitat that when these were originally drawn into the lava it must have been a family just like us standing on these very fields of lava seeing the same cliffs and ocean. As I walked and explored the area I hesitated for a moment and walked over to an uplifted section of Pahoehoe several yards off of the roped off area to take some pictures of the hardened swirling rock. I could feel sadness in the air around a particular rock formation hiding a small lava tube that had collapsed. I told my wife while pointing at it, "The mana here is intense, so strong I had to back away from it. My wife said, "let's go" as she felt something too.

It was getting dark as we arrived at the area late in the afternoon and the wind was picking up, I could see storm clouds coming in from the ocean and we made it back to our van. I could only imagine that Hawaiian family huddled together in some kind of shelter weathering out the wind-blown rain hundreds of years ago in that very spot saddened over something that had happened there.

That was the most intense feeling I've ever had on any island, including Molokai.

[Jim75]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Great story. I can see the kid's light sticks and blinking shoes in my mind's eye. The abstract light of the lava, without the context of what's creating it, makes a great photo; but I understand your disappointment.

I'm assuming 'Mana' must mean energy or power?

[kiwidiva]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

I'm coming over in the morning for the long weekend. I'm bringing my kids who are very excited to see the lava, or at least some smoke plumes. The 4-year-old thinks the lava is going to burn her and she has asthma so will probably stay in the cabin at KMC with daddy but my boys and I are ready to hike.

I hope we see something (preferably something glowing) but I am also hoping to create a memorable experience for them. Pele is certainly up to something - with the eruption at halema'uma'u yesterday - this is an exciting time to be visiting. I'm just hoping for good weather otherwise we'll all be stuck in the cabin.

Thanks Craig for sharing your story. I gotta remember to get some glow sticks for my lot! And my shoes - the last two times I stayed at KMC I forgot my shoes and ended up hiking in my slippahs! But even funnier was seeing the Japanese ladies get off their tour bus and start walking on the lava fields in their mini-skirts and high heels! And they call US baka!!

[nkth]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Okay, so we're coming to Hawaii next week for just 4 days. Since the volcano is flowing I was just going to ask my son tonight if he wants to fly over for a day. I was told to fly into Hilo because it's closer than from Kona. But after reading Craig's post I'm wondering! At least I know now to bring flashlights and bento. Help...Craig, what's your call? My son is 17, so at least he won't be too disappointed if I forewarn him.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Lava Flow...hmmm...

Okay, so we're coming to Hawaii next week for just 4 days. Since the volcano is flowing I was just going to ask my son tonight if he wants to fly over for a day. I was told to fly into Hilo because it's closer than from Kona. But after reading Craig's post I'm wondering! At least I know now to bring flashlights and bento. Help...Craig, what's your call? My son is 17, so at least he won't be too disappointed if I forewarn him.

Okay first of all, Kiwidiver, you know the observation deck (Jagger Museum) is officially closed off to the public so viewing of the crater is limited to the Volcano House area. If you want to see the volcano area better do it soon as Pele seems to be very agitated lately and is rumbling more and more with the latest issue being an eruption for the first time since 1982 in Halemaumau pit. That said if it get's worse they just may shut down the park completely especially if the winds change and bring all that sulphur dioxide back thru KMC.

As for nkth, yes flying into Hilo is a much shorter route than thru Kona. There's a ton of b&b's up in Volcano Village just outside Volcano National Park if you cannot get reservations to Volcano House.

When going to the viewing area you won't even be driving to Volcano National Park. Instead you'll be driving up towards it but will turn left onto Highway 130 Pahoa Highway just outside of Hilo. The drive will be faster from Hilo than from Volcano Village. Over one hour's drive from Volcano Village. About 30-minutes from Hilo.

If you're gonna stay in Kona or at Waikoloa Village go thru Waimea/Honokaa. It's actually shorter than to continue thru Kona thru Volcano and down into Keaau into Pahoa.

You'll head all the way past Pahoa and towards Kalapana, but don't turn down to Kalapana where the sign points left instead continue straight on Highway 130 until you come to a point where you'll see a ton of parked vehicles or a post operated by county workers.

From there it'll be either a short half mile walk or a very long 2-mile walk whether it's day or night.

If it's late afternoon bring a flashlight as the sun sets fast after 6pm. You don't want to be caught out there with no lights as there are absolutely no streetlights and no homes near the road. It's pitch black at night and the roadway becomes unpaved on some stretches.

So according to the county of Hawaii, bring water, a flashlight, long pants, gloves, and good hiking shoes.

The reason for all this protection is the fact that you'll be walking on recent lava flows where the surface is loose cinder. This kind of cinder cracks as you walk over it and the edges are as sharp as glass shards. If you wear slippers, it'll shred it. If you fall and break with your hands, they will get cut up, same for your knees and legs.

When I went up there some guy was selling 12-oz bottles of water for some ungodly amount (like over $3). You can go to Home depot and buy a 24-count case of waterbottles for less than $5.

Bring an umbrella as it rains out there. During the day it'll shade you from the absolute heat of the sun as it bakes the lava field. Oh and there are no trees there so there is no shade...AT ALL so bring a hat and sunscreen. Thing a hot day at Magic Island with no ocean to cool you down.

You can bring food but don't bring it on the hike. Leave it in your car by packing a cooler. But you're so close to Pahoa (7-miles) that if it's during the day you can stop by Pahoa town where Subways is located, or Malama Market (part of Sack N' Save/Foodland) where you can buy everything from standard groceries to deli items. There's also several gas stations so don't worry about running out of gas..

The hike in is actually pretty tame. The hike to Makapuu lighthouse is a lot more difficult (if you consider it difficult at all) so don't worry about it. My 4-year old had absolutely no problems even with the 2-mile hike in and traversing the lava fields so don't worry about the hike. It's more like a walk to me.

Your son may be disappointed. If he's a city kind of guy, Hilo will bore the hell outta him. Plan on bringing his PSP to keep him entertained. Oh yeah and cell service out at the viewing area is pretty weak so if he can't live a minute without it, you are best advised to leave him home on Oahu.

And remember the Merry Monarch festival begins March 30th so if you're planning on coming over around that time, hotel rooms and rental cars WILL BE NON-EXISTANT so book now!!! If you're not too late already.

If you're planning on attending the Merry Monarch festival and have made hotel/car reservations but am thinking of extending your stay for some volcano viewing, Change your reservations NOW and not the day you need to extend because with the demand, hotels and car rental companies may not allow you to extend your stay or rental.

Oh and expect increased traffic into Pahoa at that time because of the festivities.

Have fun!