Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [247]
Since then, Halema′uma′u has erupted 18 times; it’S the most active area on the volcano’S summit. During the last eruption, on April 30, 1982, geologists only realized something was brewing that morning as their seismographs went haywire. The park service quickly cleared hikers from the crater floor, and before noon a half-mile fissure broke open and spewed 1.3 million cubic yards of lava.
All of the Big Island is Pele’S territory, but Halema′uma′u is her home. Ceremonial hula is performed in her honor on the crater rim, and throughout the year people leave offerings of flowers, leaf-wrapped rocks and gin to appease the goddess. However, as long as Pele’S in the house, the overlook will remain closed. When it’S open, this is one end of the Halema′uma′u Trail (Map).
DEVASTATION TRAIL
As of early 2009, this trail was open and accessible by driving driving south from the visitors center; the road west of the intersection with Chain of Craters Road was closed. At this intersection is one end of the half-mile Devastation Trail (Map); parking is also available at the trail’S other end, the Pu′u Pua′i Overlook further east.
The wheelchair-accessible Devastation Trail is paved and passes through the fallout area of the 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki Crater, which decimated this portion of the rain forest. This is a great trail to do on a guided ranger walk, since at first glance it’S not half as dramatic as its name. The overlook provides a fantastic vantage into the crater, and it’S a quick walk to see Pu′u Pua′i, which formed during the eruption.
THURSTON LAVA TUBE
East of the intersection with Chain of Craters Road you enter the rain forest of native tree ferns and ohia that covers Kilauea’S windward slope.
Often crowded to the extreme, this lava tube (Map) is the end point of an enjoyable short walk through lovely, bird-filled ohia forest (it’S a good place to spot the red-bodied ′apapane, a native honeycreeper). The lava tube itself is enormous – practically big enough for your car, much less yourself – and a short initial section is lighted.
Lava tubes are formed when the outer crust of a river of lava starts to harden but the liquid lava beneath the surface continues to flow through. After the flow has drained out, the hard shell remains. Eastern Hawai′i is riddled with lava tubes, and this is a grand example. The tube extends for quite a way beyond the lighted area; with a flashlight it’S easy to keep going – and highly recommended.
KILAUEA IKI CRATER
When Kilauea Iki (Little Kilauea) burst open in a fiery inferno in November 1959, the whole crater floor turned into a bubbling lake of molten lava. Its fountains reached record heights of 1900ft, lighting the evening sky with a bright orange glow for miles around. At its peak, it gushed out 2 million tons of lava an hour.
The overlook provides an awesome view of the mile-wide crater (Map), and the hike (Click here) across its hardened surface is the park’S most popular. One good strategy for visiting this often crowded, but scenic, portion of Crater Rim Drive is to park at the Kilauea Iki Overlook and walk the Crater Rim Trail to Thurston Lava Tube and back; it’S about a mile all told and easy as pie.
Chain of Craters Road
This road (Map) gets shorter all the time (most recently in 2003). It currently winds about 19 miles down the southern slopes of Kilauea Volcano, ending abruptly at the latest East Rift Zone lava flow on the Puna Coast. It’S paved but curvaceous; allow 45 minutes one way without stops.
For visual drama, the road is every bit the equal of Crater Rim Dr. As you descend toward the sea, panoramic coastal vistas open before you, revealing slopes covered in frozen fingers of blackened lava. Then, at the coast, you get to stare at those same flows from below, looking up to where they crested the cliffs and plunged across the land to meet the sea. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to photograph this unique landscape,