The Big Island and Volcanoes National Park


Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Up early this morning to get to the Honolulu airport for a flight to Hilo on the east coast of the “Big Island” named Hawaii (but everyone calls it the Big Island).  At more than 4000 square miles, this one island is almost as big the state of Connecticut, and is home to five volcanoes including Kilauea which erupted so spectacularly in 2018.  On arrival we drove to the 4000 ft. level to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  We went to the Kilauea Visitors Center where we had lunch and then met our volcanologist who spent the rest of the day with us.  Here’s the view over Kilauea from the restaurant:



Our first walk was along part of the circumference of Kilauea where there were many wild orchids:



We came across a number of fumaroles, vents of sulfurous steam which smelled very bad:



The huge caldera held a giant amount of lava (which term, we learned, may be applied to molten or solid material from a volcano).



On a side path, at a prime site overlooking the caldera, we came across this offering to Pele, the female god of fire and volcanoes, who to this day is revered by some native Hawaiians:



Another walk was at Devastation Trail, along a barren area created by the eruption of Kilauea Iki (or little Kilauea) in 1959, or sixty years ago.  We learned about “pioneering species” which had evolved to grow where there is literally no soil, to begin the forestation of areas devastated by lava flows.  The primary pioneering plant is the Ohia tree:




One unusual sighting is “splatter” of lava which lands in the forks of trees and remains forever as the tree grows around it.  Here’s a splatter in an Ohia tree:



The volcano forms crystals of MgFeSiO4 or Olivene which appear as little sparkles on the lava:



A beautiful flowering plant called Japanese Knotweed also pioneers, but it is, unfortunately, an invasive species and doesn’t belong:



On the way out of the park, we drove on a rebuilt road past a lava flow which had taken out a piece of the road.  It was unreal:



Back to Hilo, we checked into our hotel and had dinner.  Tomorrow is our service day and we’ll help maintain the park in some way.

Comments

  1. xctravelerJuly 25, 2019 at 6:24 PM

    It really is phenomenal. Carol and I stayed at the Volcano Lodge in the park for our visit 3 years ago. It was interesting sitting in our room and seeing the crater and hearing the sounds of escaping gas.
    Paul

    ReplyDelete

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