The End of the Road

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The End of the Road was Originally Posted on May 29, 2010 by

With the volcano still streaming lava in Kalapana, I have been wanting to go down again to see what’s up. However, it is a long drive and well past the volcano park. You can’t get further from my house, driving wise, than this.

Turns out that my friend wants to go see a dog that is for sale and it is in Kalapana. As you drive down, there are recent lava flows and the area that USED TO BE a housing development. The lava flowed over most of the houses and covered the road. Later the road was partially repaired and there are barricades to keep you from driving up to the flow. There are still a few houses down there past the end of the road and THAT is where we are headed.

I’m not sure how close to the current flow this woman lives, but I’m taking my camera. There will definately be walking involved!

Now you may think it is cool to walk near flowing lava, but let me tell you that it is not. Oh wait, FLOWING LAVA? Yeah, THAT is cool, sorry! Yes, walking near flowing lava, while dangerous, is cool (or hot as the case may be). Flowing lava is about 2000 degrees F!

The closest I have been to real lava is about 3 feet. So close in fact that I noticed that the plastic on the front of my camera was tacky! A photo I took near the VNP flow is here: http://www.mindspring.com/~lavarock/hawaii.htm

Please note that that site is many years old and I have not updated it recently. Also, many of the places shown on that page inside the Volcano National Park are now restricted because of a recent explosion. You USED to be able to drive right up to the rim of Halemaumau Crater and see smoke and steam slowly rise from holes, but an explosion one morning threw a 2 ton rock hundreds of feet into the air. Naturally, the cordoned off the area. You can see the crater as it look now at this link. I made it a tiny url because of its real length: http://tinyurl.com/25utmxo and this one: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/cams/KIcam/

The second link shows the crater from the observation point and the photo on my Hawaiian site earlier in this blog shows the same crater, years earlier, from the same spot.

Although not allowed inside the park, there are a few websites that tell you what you can do outside the park. That is, if you don’t mind Madame Pele coming after you! www.dolphinbayhilo.com/cook.html

I’m taking my camera with me today. I doubt I’ll have photos of flowing lava because it is easier t osee at night, but I should get some photos of steam and odd sights.