Sojourn in the Sun, Part 6: Volcanoes National Park  01/11 - The Off Season, 2022-2023 - CycleBlaze

January 11, 2023

Sojourn in the Sun, Part 6: Volcanoes National Park  01/11

Watching an island grow, right before our eyes

OUR STAY IN HILO begins with a tremendous view of Mauna Kea in the early morning light.  It's surprisingly (to me) clear, and the observatories at the top of the mountain are clearly visible.  I had expected Hilo to be cloudy and rainy but instead the skies are blue and sunny, with a minimum of humidity-induced haze or vog. (You met vog several days ago, as I was walking up to the dive shop from Kailua-Kona.)  There's an eruption in progress at Kilauea Crater, thirty miles or so to the south, and the gas it has been emitting has been carried westward over the hill creating haze on the Kona side but here it's wonderfully clear.

A pinpoint moon in the sky over Mauna Kea, as seen from our hotel in Hilo.
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The morning light creates an evolving picture of the mountain as the sun slowly rises.
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You can easily see the observatories at the top of the nearly 14,000 foot peak. Also, the snow.
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I just couldn't help myself: I must've taken fifty or more shots. It's really hard to pick a "favorite". It's mesmerizing, captivating, scintillating.
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See? I told you: you can see the observatories with no problem. I have a friend who used to work up there, but recently retired; he told me "I still shiver every time I look up there."
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A better look at the moon. Not a bad image of something almost 239,000 miles away, in my opinion, considering it was taken with a hand-held camera without a tripod for stability.
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We have a full schedule for the day: a visit to the Hilo Farmer's Market (including breakfast and a presentation by someone our tour organizers know), followed by a visit to Volcanoes National Park.  While there we'll hike around, down into, across, and back out of the Kilauea Iki, the crater adjacent to Kilauea, then drive along Crater Rim Road to a vantage point where we can see the lava lake formed by the current eruption. 

There's a reason these birds are called the "common" mynah: they're everywhere.
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Actually, I really, REALLY don't like coconut but I do like coconut milk curry and coconut milk soup. Go figure.
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'Nuff said.
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The hike proves to be marginally strenuous and, at something approaching 12 or 13 kilometers including the steep descent into and equally steep climb out of the crater, is about the limit of what I can manage comfortably for the day.  But it's absolutely worth the effort, to experience a terrain so completely different from anywhere else I've ever been.  

The path leading down into the crater is pretty steep, but it's nicely shaded so the walk is pleasant.
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A panorama from one end of the crater. This crater was created in a 1959 eruption, making the rocks in the floor younger than several members of our tour group. for more information about this eruption, see https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/1959-kilauea-iki-eruption
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We can also see steam rising from the adjacent main Kilauea crater. We'll get a much better look at that later in the day.
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The Park Service has created stacks of rock pylons to guide visitors across the crater floor.
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The crater floor is pretty stark and forbidding.
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More gifts to the gods.
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Once again, life springs up wherever it can get a foothold. It makes quite a contrast to the stark black lava we're walking across.
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Don't get too close to the edge.
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Back up at the crater rim, we have an expansive view. That's Mauna Loa rising in the background.
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This Kalij pheasant (thanks for the correction, Bill) blocked our path for a moment after we had returned from the crater floor to the rim, then disappeared into the underbrush.
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Bill ShaneyfeltMight be a kalij pheasant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalij_pheasant
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsHi-

Oh yeah- thanks for the correction! I wrote peacock but meant pheasant, based on what Google Lens had told me earlier.
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1 year ago

With the main walk done, around sunset we head for the viewpoint from which one can look down into Kilauea. The eruption is still going on, with a fire fountain bubbling in a lake of very, very hot lava.  It's breezy and chilly up top, though, and despite the windbreaker I brought along I'm eager to get back in the van after about a half an hour of watching the eruption.

Dusk at the volcano.
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Remember the steam you saw earlier?
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Here's the source: a lava lake.
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In the midst of the lake, the source is clear: a lava fountain.
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Up from the ground come a-bubblin' ... lava.
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Although not as spectacular as the fire fountains of 1959, we're still impressed by what we see.
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As darkness gathers, the extent of the lake becomes more evident.
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That's a whole lot of hot stuff.
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Arriving back in Hilo, we have plans to meet a friend for dinner.  He lives in Hilo and we've corresponded over the years on an internet forum, but it's our first in-person meetup.  He's selected an excellent place in old downtown Hilo, and we enjoy a couple hours of get-to-know-you conversation over dinner and dessert.

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