Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [246]
VOLCANO ART CENTER
Next door to the visitors center, inside the 1877 Volcano House lodge, this gallery shop (Map; 967-7565, 866-967-7565; www.volcanoartcenter.org; 9am-5pm) sells high-quality island pottery, paintings, woodwork, sculpture, jewelry, Hawaiian quilts and more. Browsing the stunning collection – which ranges from $8000 koa rocking chairs to $20 prints – is almost as satisfying as buying. The resident nonprofit arts organization hosts craft and cultural workshops, music concerts, plays and dance recitals, all listed in its free bimonthly Volcano Gazette.
SULPHUR BANKS
Nearby, wooden boardwalks weave through steaming Sulphur Banks, where numerous holes and rocky vents (Map) have been stained yellow, orange and neon green by the hundreds of tons of sulfuric gases released here daily. The smoldering, foul-smelling area looks like the aftermath of a forest fire. It’S possible to walk here from the art center, cross the road, visit Steaming Bluff (below) and loop back on a portion of Crater Rim Trail.
STEAM VENTS & STEAMING BLUFF
At the next pull-off, these nonsulfurous steam vents (Map) make a good drive-up photo op; they are the result of rainwater that percolates down and is heated into steam by hot rocks underground. Much more evocative is the short walk to the crater rim at Steaming Bluff (Map), where the magnificent crater view feels infernolike as steam from the cliffs below pours over you. Cool early mornings or cloudy afternoons showcase the steam best.
JAGGAR MUSEUM
The exhibits at this small museum (Map; 985-6049; 8:30am-8pm) are a nice complement to the visitor center: they introduce the museum’S founder, the famous volcanologist Dr Thomas A Jaggar; overview the Hawaiian pantheon; and provide a deeper understanding of volcanic geology. Tracking Pele’S heartbeat, a bank of real-time seismographs monitor the park’S daily quota of earthquakes, which number from the tens to the hundreds.
When the Halema′uma′u Crater began erupting in 2008, the real show moved outside to the viewpoint. Museum hours were extended, and ranger talks expanded. It’S a thrilling vantage that also constitutes – until the eruption stops – the end of the road from this direction.
Just before you reach the museum, the Kilauea Overlook (Map) provides another pause-worthy panorama, and a few miles south is the Southwest Rift (Map). This rocky fissure is more massive and long than it looks; it slices from the caldera summit all the way to the coast.
HALEMA′UMA′U OVERLOOK
On March 18, 2008, Halema′uma′u Crater shattered a quarter-century of silence with a huge steam-driven explosion that scattered rocks and Pele’S hair (strands of volcanic glass) over 75 acres. A series of explosions followed, widening a 300ft vent in the crater floor, which as of early 2009 continued to spew a muscular column of smoke but no molten lava.
By November 2008, this officially became the longest continuous eruption since 1924. That’S the year when Halema′uma′u ended over a century as a fiery lake of lava that alternately overflowed its rim and receded. No one knows if Pele is on the verge of filling her cup once more.
In 1823, missionary William Ellis first described the boiling goblet of Halema′uma′u, and this prodigious sight attracted travelers from all over the world. Looking in, some saw the fires of hell, others primeval creation, but none left unmoved. Mark Twain wrote that he witnessed:
Circles and serpents and streaks of lightning all twined and wreathed and tied together…I have seen Vesuvius since, but it was a mere toy, a child’S volcano, a soup kettle, compared to this.
Then, in 1924, the crater floor subsided rapidly, touching off a series of explosive eruptions. Boulders and mud rained down for days. When it was over,