Kilauea

Most people when heading to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park are looking for/expecting active fountains of lava visible from the roadside, or huge lavaflows about to engulf towns and neighborhoods. Not the case. Although the lava has been flowing since 1983, most of the flow has been within tubes created as the lava hardens on the surface, creating it's own tube that it flows in. These tubes usually head south for the sea, and most of the viewing of the lava flows are as it exits undersea. Some lava is visible on the surface, but it's harder to get to, requires a hike not suitable for little kids or folks wearing sandals, and during the night to best see the contrast and red colors. Plus it would have added an extra two hours of driving to our day. Rarely are there actual eruptions, or fountains of red/orange lava like you see in the brochures.

We opted for something different. March 19, 2008 there WAS an eruption, but instead of happening down near the active area (hard to get to area), this one was at the summit, which hadn't happened since 1982. Halema'uma'u crater, within the larger Kilauea caldera, has been venting for the last 7 weeks, and the scientists aren't sure what will happen next. What we saw wasn't necessarily as dramatic as seeing actual lava, but it was a rarer phenomenon.

The first pic is us in the Thurston lava tube, the second Halema'uma'u, and the third a closeup of the eruption at night.