Hawaii 130 south from Hilo.  Keaau, Pāhoa, Kalapana – LAVA.

Notta lotta guidance.  Felt risky to skip the traditional National Park viewing area & take a Colorado co-worker’s advice (who lava-walked 2 months prior).  Drive south on Highway 130 until the road ends.

Just as the road went dirt, folks dressed in orange directed us to park the SUV in an empty lot & take a FREE shuttle to the end.  from there: Walk, bike or bus.  Bikes ($15-$25), shuttle Bus ($10), self-hike (FREE).

Shuttle bus, no brainer.  Dropped us three-tenths/mile from where everyone starts their hike (trekking over crusty mineral-embedded lava rock, jagged & razor sharp – biking not possible).

Set my compass.  Aimed 40 degrees; left of smoke plume 2 ½ miles in the distance.  Details.

Remnants of a town lost.  1991, lava slowly engulfed the town of Kalapana.  Every house, street, road sign.  Unimaginable.  Molten lava broke thru the earth & incinerated ALL, literally EVERYTHING.

Hiked over lava past.  Black, sharp & crusty – other times: hardened meringue.  One of the most AMAZING EXPERIENCES of my life.  No words.  double WOW amplified.   Just the hike itself – WOW.

An hour in, felt the first wave of warmth.  Dry heat, like air wafting from an open oven.  Cracks of red peeked from between the large blackened boulders/lava rock.  More heat.  Is this safe?

Ahead, crowd of people packed tightly together.  Couldn’t hear words, but the buzz…a rolling wave of WOW. Astonishment.  Red lava flowing/erupting from the earth.  Oozing molten red, graying within minutes of exposure to the open air.  Another wave pushes over the drying gray lava.  Again, no words.

Hypnotized.  Lost in a long stare – like gazing in a campfire.  Mind clears/blank, no thoughts.

Paul pointed to a stream of lava further up the mountain.  Climbed on rocks surrounded by more red cracks.  Is this safe?  MULTIPLE STREAMS of LAVA.  Ahead, to the left – and behind us.

Watched the Earth open, jut UPWARD.  HUGE rocks listed like the Titanic, slipped into the searing lava.  We walked over rocks, now gone – part of the glowing red flow.

Sunset, our  surrounding landscape glowed.  Beautiful, mesmerizing – then, crazy scary.  Reality that we were walking over/around rocks which later sunk into the core of our Planet, became overwhelming.

Flashlights on.  Started the return hike.  Last bus 9:30pm.

Slower going in the dark.  Unsteady trail of craggy rugged rock.  Eyes darted ahead, searching/path-finding. Hiked over/around piles of lava rock dropped from molten rivers past.  NO defined trail.

Crazy AMAZING experience I’ll never forget.

Late nite, long drive.  Back in Waikoloa after 11pm.  Lazy day tomorrow, last day in Hawaii.  No plans.  Came & conquered, ticked off everything.  Tomorrow: Sis’ birthday.  Pool water & Piña coladas  🌺

 

 

Pāhoa Lava Flow

 

 

Big Island tour guide collapses, dies in noxious lava steam clou …

www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/…/noxious-gas-from-lava-flow-kills-big-island-tour-gui

 

Feb 1, 2018 – (Image: KALAPANA, BIG ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) -. Authorities are investigating the death of a Puna tour guide who collapsed in a lava field after heavy rain caused large steam clouds to rise from active lava flows. Hawaii County police said Sean King, 51, collapsed at 4 a.m. Thursday while leading …

 

Hiker dies while viewing lava – Hawaii Tribune-Herald

www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/02/01/hawaii…/hiker-dies-while-viewing-lava/

 

Feb 1, 2018 – HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald file photo A sign informs visitors that they have reached the end of the county lava viewing area in Kalapana and … Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com. Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com. PREVIOUS STORY.

 

 

 

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