I don’t know if I am prone to getting side tasks, but I am getting them certainly here, and you know what, I actually like it very much, as it helps me a little bit from the “Cabin Fever” that I have been developing a little recently, not being able to get around much and being stuck to the Visitor Center and the Bunkhouse with the weekly side trip to Hilo. But only 7 days to go and I will have my rental car to get to all the places that are still on my list.

Side tasks
So to the side tasks: You know and may have seen the audio recording photograph some time back – I was tasked to both translate the movie script of “Born of fire, born of the sea” into German and then actually have it also recorded so that German speaking visitors requesting assistance can listen to the simultaneous translation on what the park calls the “Audiostik”. Today I was given the final production version on a DVD, “Aus Feuer geboren, geboren aus dem Meer”.

Then there are the German special hikes, e.g. the German summit walk “Gipfelentdeckung” that lasts about an hour and has really drawn the crowds, this probably because it is held during the right time of the day and is pre-announced a few days before. Recently I was getting as many as 15 German or Swiss visitors on my German summit hike, and once 0 and once 1 (that is, “zero” and “one”), respectively, on my regular Summit hikes. And I have finalized the “Into the Volcano” just now, the virtual tour of which has been posted to the blog before, I hope you could enjoy it! The German “Wanderung in den Vulkan” will comprise a group of probably 15-16 and will take place this Thursday.

And today was the farewell event of the Youths-in-Park, the YIPs. The Hawai’ians call this the “Potluck” event, and everyone is asked to share a dish. So Andrej and Danny got to work in our kitchen with the little utensils that were available, and it ended up being mostly deep fried or fried nonetheless, so everything is a little greasy now. My task, however, was to put together an audio-backed photo slide show of the summer with the YIPS, and this proved to be quite challenging but worked out quite well in the end, I guess, as everyone liked it, I think. 8 hours of clicking away on the ‘puter wisely spent, then?

Which leaves me with the translation of the German trail brochures for the four most popular longer hikes in the park for the moment…

The 50th day in the park, and what an anniversary! From the very start early in the morning, we had sort of a crisis, a relatively rare event – the Trade Winds had subsided, and the plume out of the vent in Halema’uma’u Crater was stagnant, mostly going straight up into the air… and then coming back down in the surroundings.

Both Jaggar Museum and then the Kilauea Visitors Center were getting elevated levels of SO2 (not as high as during the Ka’u Desert hike though), and as some of the visitors, especially the elderly and young children or allergic people, could show reactions to the SO2, everyone in the park was monitoring the situation closely.

Soon enough, after Jaggar had passed 1 ppm of SO2, the readings at KVC were also in excess of 1 ppm and one of our Rangers started to feel it pretty bad. And as if that was not enough, the 15 min averaged update of the SO2 monitoring online network stopped working at KVC, so I took a radio and the SO2 badge and got readings myself outside KVC. The instant readings sometimes passed 3 ppm, and I heard over the radio that Jaggar Museum was being closed and the area vacated up to the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC), and the Ranger guided activities were cancelled progressively.

After eleven, as the “evacuation” of Jaggar was in full swing, SO2 readings started dropping around KVC and my badge readings dropped to 0 as soon as I was asked to provide further updates. So I radioed into Dispatch and updated them, also confirming that I would deliver a double-checked reading to make sure the plume had really passed us and tradewinds were picking up again:
“All receivers, dispatch, stand by for bad air quality update” …
(338 standing by)
“This is a bad air quality update for the area around the Visitors Center and Jaggar Museum. SO2 readings in excess of 1 ppm are being recorded and the situation is monitored, 1125”
…
“Volcano Dispatch, 338”
“338 go ahead”
“This is a mobile SO2 badge reading for the Kilauea Visitor Center area, currently a recording of 0.0, will double check that reading is correct and stable, 338”.
“Copy, 338 stand by, 1142”
“Standing By, 338”
…
“Volcano Dispatch, 338”
“338 go ahead”
“Confirming the mobile SO2 badge reading of 0.0 ppm SO2 at KVC, 338 clear”
“Copy 338, 1145”
…

It was a pretty intense morning but luckily not a boat day, which would have really filled up the indoors of KVC.
Nevertheless, people were mostly kept to watch the 11:30 once-a-day Kilauea Iki eruption movie and flocking out just before noon, eager to get going. So the now back-to-normal SO2 reading was really a relief and I decided to take up my summit hike that I had cancelled, announcing it for 1215, and everyone was eager to get on a ranger activity – I had 42 people walking with me this time, and a fun crowd it was too!

SO2 reading at KVC

So if you want to come and venture into an active volcano, follow me…:

This tour will last approximately 2.5 to 3 hours, taking us from the Crater Rim here at the Visitors Center into the main caldera of Kilauea and to eyelevel with the active eruption from Halema’uma’u crater, hence the name “Halema’uma’u trail“. It has been in use since 1846, and we will follow in the footsteps of the old adventurers heading for a molten lava lake that was often to be found inside Halema’uma’u at that time. My name is Michael, and I will be your ranger for the hike today.

As a brief outline for the program, which I called “changescapes” for the ever changing landscapes that we will encounter, let me offer the following information:
– The 2.5-3 hours tour will be both inside the rain forest and on open lava and some patches of open, green terrain. Check that you all have comfortable walking shoes and protective clothing for both sun and rain, as the weather can change frequently up here at the summit. Also bring water and some trail snacks.
– We are currently located 4000′ ft elevation (1225 m ü.M.), but will descend 425′ (130m) down onto the caldera floor, encountering the 1974 lava flows.
– Along the way, we will find some stairs on the trail, unstable landslide areas next to the trail and sharp edges of lava. Please stay on the trail.

If you are prepared and ready to go, follow me.

Stop 1: The changing view across Kilauea
This measurement marker from ancient times is said to have been selected for the great view across the entire volcano for the US topopgraphical measurements. This place used to have one of the typical, triangle-shaped cones on top of it. Now, what can you see today? Right – nothing. This is how quickly the landscape has changed. Actually, I am quite glad it has, because this will help me in the outline of my talk, leaving out the view of the caldera and the ongoing eruption at Halema’uma’u for a little while, until we exit the rainforest!

Trailhead sign, towards Halema'uma'u trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Stop 2: Ferns of the Rainforest
As the volcano and the landscapes around it have changed significantly over the past few hundred years, so has the rain forest. It has been destroyed and pioneered back out again many times, and this part is probably less than 200 years old, built on a thin layer of volcanic ash and soil.
In this upper part of the rainforest, we find many of the abundant endemic or native ferns of Hawai’i. Endemic means that certain species are found nowhere else on earth than in one particular spot, and in Hawai’i, over 90% of all native species are endemic. The following three ferns are easy to distinguish as follows:
– Hapu’u Pulu (Cibotium glaucum) ferns are large tree ferns that are called “walking tree ferns” because they tend to crash under their own crown weight and resprout at the end of the nurse log – they, like so much else on Hawai’i, grow very slowly, only approximately 12 inches or one foot per decade. Take a guess, then, how old this one may be?!

– Ama’u ferns can be distinguished from the Hapu’u ferns by their different mechanism in branching. While the Hapu’u branches in three (stem, branch stem, leaves), the Ama’u branches only one, having two elements to the crown, as you can see here (demonstrate at one of the ferns). The youngest branches often experience what is called “tropical flush”, red patches of sun protection – or a glowing punishment from Pele… Ama’u ferns don’t have the soft, velvety fuzz but rather a coarse skin similar to a pig’s back – we come to those two stories a little later…

Young fiddlehead of Ama'u fern, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

– Uluhe ferns are native but not endemic to Hawai’i. Especially their youngest stages are easy to identify, with their single stem in deep purple fully curled up at the top and then branching always in multiples of two. When grown, their leaves are much thinner and slimmer than the ones from the other two ferns.

Uluhue hearts

Both young fiddlehead and grown fern of Uluhe, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Stop 3: The trees
– While one of our famous hardwood trees used for the important Hawaiian outrigger canoes manufacturing cannot be found in this section of the tree, I will point it out later – the Koa.
– However, two very common trees in this area of the park abund here, especially this one – Ohia Lehua, a really special tree with a Hawaiian legend or story associated with this, which I want to share with you as we go along. In addition, we find Iliahi, or Sandalwood here. The tree almost got extinct some time ago when it was cut down and used for its fragrance and beautiful pieces of furniture. At that time, there was virtually no control on the harvesting of Sandalwood, and the high demand especially in Asia, making Sandalwood once of the most cherished and expensive fragrances, brought it to the brink of extinction.

Leaves of Iliahi with tropical flush along Crater rim trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Stop 4: The problem of invasive species
A big impact on the look of the landscape in and around Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is attributed to invasive species, those that were introduced by humans, don’t naturally belong here and have caused havoc due to their extensive and rapid spread, outgrowing and outperforming many of the natural inhabitants.
In this area, we can see quite a few of them right next to each other:
– Young and grown Kahili ginger, forming large patches. If we venture on a little longer, you can actually see the difference it makes, finding cleared patches of the forest floor on one and ginger-infested patches on the other side of the trail. We should actually call it Himalayan Yellow Ginger, as this is the origin of the plant, which was artificially introduced to the Park here as an ornamental plant without specific function. It has grown explosively, to become the second biggest plant problem here at HAVO.

Young Ginger

Patches of Kahili Ginger along Halema'uma'u Trail

– So I am sure you want to find out what the biggest problem in terms of plant species is inside the park. It is this one here – you can recognize it by the light green leaves that you will find throughout the park, especially here in the Caldera, and by its immensely thick grow that outcompetes all the native plants.
– Invasive raspberry and blackberries, including the Yellow Himalayan Raspberry (rubus ellipticus). They also can be easily distinguished from their native and/or endemic counterparts, as they still carry their thorns, while the Hawaiian species do not. They have lost their defences, because due to the lack of competitors and predators they have become useless. There is a saying for this: Use it – or lose it! This also meant that the Hawaiian varieties can put their defence energy elsewhere more productively, like in growing large fruit. If you are lucky to encounter one of these, the Akala or endemic Hawaiian Raspberry (rubus hawaiiensis), you will know what I mean!
– The Japanese Anemone, which looks really pretty with its white and violet flowers. Its spread is not too bad right here, but once we are starting our climb back out of the caldera, you see that very quickly the white flowers from the Anemone subside, but their large leaves and a thick undergrowth will prevail, leaving no space for the native shrubs and small plants in the vicinity!

A bee is doing her work inside an Asian Anemone, an introduced species about to become invasive along certain areas of the trail

It is really important, therefore, that we think about the potential consequences of our doings and that we try to keep the park to its native and natural state – in fact, not only the park but also the outside of it! Inside HAVO, there are strong control measures underway to reduce the Ginger and the Fayas, but it is really a difficult and laborious task, and “eradication” as such would not be a good word as it is believed that some of these invasive species will always remain and try to take over again, so it can be controlled only to a certain degree. There will always be changes to the landscape of the park, but it should be somewhat sustainable and natural, and we should not force it into something we did not intend.

Stop 5: (S)Tumbling blocks and causes for change
Not only Kilauea volcano with its multiple explosive, rock-throwing and effusive, lava-flowing eruptions are causes for change in the landscape. Significant change and damage potential comes from strong earthquakes, like the 1983 M6.6 Kaoiki Earthquake, that occurred only some 15 miles from here on the southwestern flank of Mauna Loa. It was strong enough to yet alter the landscape around Kilauea caldera, change once more the path of Crater Rim Drive and create this huge landslide that you are seeing in front of you. These are massive boulders that have fallen down all along Steam Vents to Earthquake Trail section of Kilauea caldera! Multiple large earthquakes have shaken Hawai’i in the past, the last strong one in 2006, causing damage in the northern part of the island especially. A secondary effect of earthquakes are tsunami, destructive waves that have led to massive destruction on the Hawai’ian islands before. If you have been to Hilo, you may have visited the Pacific Tsunami Museum, commemorating especially the destructive 1946 tsunami generated by a strong earthquake in the Aleutian island arc. The 2011 Tohuku, Japan, Earthquake and tsunami caused damage in some of our other national parks here on the Big island on the west coast near Kailua-Kona.

Landslide and rockfall into Kilauea Caldera, Halema'uma'u Trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Stop 6 – The Caldera Floor
Folks, you have made it all the way into the Caldera of an active volcano! This is a good time to rest, have a drink and take your pictures. Let me give you a short overview of what we are witnessing here, and we can take some 5-10 minutes to linger around and enjoy the scenery.
For the ongoing eruption inside Halema’uma’u crater, we are not allowed to venture closer to the crater. You may have noticed that I seem to use crater and caldera interchangeably, and the difference is really just the size. A crater with a diameter of more than 1 mile is usually called a caldera. Their formation process is typically the same – they form through collapse. Had you been visiting Kilauea volcano 500 years ago, you would have observed that it looked like a shield volcano similar to Mauna Loa over there (point out if weather permitting), just smaller. It would have had a very nice summit, from which Lava would be flowing effusively from time to time, adding to the lava layers that build up Kilauea and make it higher successively. Now, something must have happened to the magma reservoir some 500 years ago (BTW, we call molten rock “magma” as long as it is underground, and “lava” once it reaches the surface and is being spewed out or is flowing. We assume that the supply to the upper magma chamber in the volcano was reduced or cut short, and due to the void underneath, the weight of the summit could not be supported, and it collapsed catastrophically – leaving behind this wide caldera here at Kilauea summit, 3 by 2 miles wide. This is important to note – Kilauea did not explode like Mount Saint Helens did in May 1980, for example, which all has to do with the chemical composition of the magma. The less Silica content in the magma, and the less gaseous it is, the more benign and “effusive” the eruption style is going to be. In fact, volcanologists distinguish between “Hawaiian” volcanic eruptions and other styles such as the “Plinian” style named after Mount Vesuvius in Italy that destroyed Pompeji in AD 79.
– Although the Hawaiian eruptions are typically less explosive and dangerous than others (on the scale of the volcano explosivity index, Hawaiian volcanoes would rank in, say, the lower third of potential danger for mankind), don’t be fooled by Pele honua mea, the goddess of fire! Over time, effusive and explosive eruptions change here at Kilauea, and what we are looking at right now is in fact, although not an intense one, still an explosive eruption! Had you been visiting prior to 2008, Halema’uma’u crater would have been a silent witness, not doing much more than look pretty. However, one night in March 2008, there was an explosion that was noticed by the permanent instruments monitoring the volcano, but it was not until the next morning when the scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) got to work that they realized something significant had happened. A big vent (hole) had opened up in the crater, releasing steaming amounts of water vapor and gases, including toxic sulphur dioxide (SO2) of up to 1000 tonnes a day. The scientists immediately took to their reconnaissance vehicle and drove to a portion of what is now the closed section of Crater Rim Drive. As soon as they hit the plume, their visibility reduced to zero and they needed to inch slowly forward. They crept ahead, and CRUNCH – BUMP – CRASH – oh no, must have driven off the road! Well, in fact they had not, but the crunching came from rocks and cinder ejected in the explosion. Although small when compared to prior explosive events at Kilauea like the 1790 and earlier eruptions, this should act as a small reminder that Kilauea can be explosive, quite often so actually!
– Right here, we are standing on witnesses of other landscape changing events. This is an effusive event from 1974, so the lavas that we can see here are barely 40 years old, nothing compared to the geologic ages with which our earth is usually explained. So when geologists are typically talking millions and hundres of millions of years, you start to understand how exciting it must be for a scientist to see how new earth is born as we speak!
– Let’s linger on here for a few more minutes to enjoy the spectacular scenery before we have to do some hard business of the day – climbing back up the 400 ft elevation change that we dropped from where we started the hike right there (point out directions).

Lehua flower on an Ohia tree that has pioneered out onto the lava of the 1974 flow inside Kilauea Caldera, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Halema'uma'u Crater puts on a show with its night glow - expression of the ongoing eruption at the summit since 2008, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, USA

Stop 7: Hapu’u Pulu vs Hapu’u Ii
We have now climbed back into the rainforest. Here is a rather rare species of Hapu’u ferns, it is called Hapu’u Ii. It has the red and black dots, almost like thorns, on the fern stems. Compared to its much softer sibling, the Pulu, it is considered the more masculine, dominant form. If you put the two next to each other, it is very much like Husband and Wife, but in reality these are two completely separate species that would not interbreed.

The rare Hapu'u Ii fern is found just beyond the intersection with the Kilauea Iki Trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

The rare Hapu'u Ii fern is found just beyond the intersection with the Kilauea Iki Trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Stop 8: Sensory experiences
At this point in time, let’s take another quick rest. In fact, we have calmed down so far now from our steep climb back up that our pulse is back to normal and we should use some of our other senses to experience Hawaii Volcanoes National Pakr. Up to this point, mostly we have used our eyes to see and our ears to hear my talking, but what I really would like you to have is a full experience of the park. So let’s take a moment to spread out a little and get to touch, smell and hear the Park. You are welcome to find and touch some of the velvety fuzz of the Hapu’u fern, find some invasive species, smell the sweet ginger smell or close your eyes and listen to the native birds up above our heads. Take your time!

Stop 9: Overlook of Kilauea Iki crater, Pu’u Pua’i red cinder hill and view of the main eruption vent from the 1959 eruption. This was one of the most fascinating eruptions that lasted only for a short time but drew visitors in flocks so large that cars were queuing and causing traffic jams all the way up from Hilo and people arriving in cars had to be given 10 minute tickets to get the traffic flowing again. Some people would hike up from Mountain View or similar and as pedestrians got somewhat unlimited access to witness the show that started, as I said before quite typical, with a fissure eruption and then poured lava fountains up to 1900 feet high. The fallout, ash and cinder, in the predominant wind direction created Pu’u Pua’i across and led to the rerouting of Crater Rim Drive permanently.

View into Kilauea Iki Crater

Stop 10: Old Crater Rim Drive
As we are nearing the end of our hike today, I just wanted to briefly summarize what changescapes we have walked across today. We started with the topographic marker that was almost fully overgrown now – forests change the look and feel of our landscapes in general.
In particular, we have looked at the native and the invasive species and how they change the forest itself.
We have talked extensively about the prime topic that you have come for today – Kilauea Volcano, its eruptions and how they change the landscape. We have come to another section here that has changed the very form and layout of Crater Rim Drive itself: In 1959, the Kilauea Iki area got devastated in what is now “Devastation Trail” and permanently rerouted this section. In 2008, the ongoing explosive eruption in Halema’uma’u started, which you know is still ongoing, and that forced the closure of the southwestern portion of Crater Rim Drive – a very small section of which, out to Keanakako’i Crater, has been recently reopened for foot traffic only – so you see we can hardly keep up with updating and redrawing the handout maps.
Now at this very point here, Crater Rim Drive got changed for another, third time. This was in 1983, and it was due to this (hold up Earthquake pictures) – a large, Magnitude 6.6 earthquake just about 15 miles from here on the flanks of Mauna Loa, the Kaoiki EQ, that caused the massive landslides we have seen as we descended into the Caldera, and also toppled this part of crater rim drive. It is the very same spot that you are standing on right now!

The 1983 Kaoiki Earthquake caused the collapse and rerouting of Crater Rim Drive

View of Crater Rim Trail after the Earthquake as seen today - can you imagine how much has changed already in that short time?

Already two months gone, and halfway through my stay here at HAVO, incredible!
Today I was shadowing Melissa on her Devastation Trail guided hike, which is down beyond Nahuku (Thurston Lava Tube) on the leeward side of the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption – where all the fallout was, and therefore where all the rainforest and infrastructure got destroyed from lava fountains and ash and tephra as high as 1900 feet, including the Crater Rim Drive.

Thinking about putting together my own program for this trail, that’s actually a pretty strong impression that we can cast upon the visitors: Crater Rim Drive had to be closed and repositioned three times – this being the first time:
– After 1959, they had to build a rather large bypass around the devastated area.
– In 1983, the Kaoiki Earthquake destroyed the part right next to the visitor center, what is now known as Earthquake Trail
– In 2008, the southwestern part of Crater Rim Drive got closed for the ongoing eruption at Halema’uma’u.

Life of constant change!

Also life of constant change is how the rainforest and the plants are recovering in the devastated area, especially the Ohia trees venturing out first, followed by Ohelo. I actually was not aware that there are two varieties of Ohelo, a tree (with larger leaves) and a brush or shrub, but both having sort of the same type of berries.

Venturing out from the original part of the rainforest into the fallout area, there is a lot of ash and cinder, but large bombs of rocks are stuck in some of the trees that survived the event. I first did not believe that this are for real, but I was confirmed over and over they were not placed there and are really stuck fast from the impact.

And then, there is Olivine and there are Pele’s tears to be found (see Daily photo)! I think this is going to be an interesting discovery for the visitors, and I can talk a lot of geology and volcano in addition to the plants.

I am invited to give another tour in German after having led my first “German-exlusive” (almost Swiss-German exclusive, actually) Summit Hike a few days back. This time it is for a booked tour group from Austria, and the intention is to give them something longer than just a tour across the summit, therefore we picked the tour of “Into the Volcano”, about 3 miles and 2.5 – 3 hours in length, to be the right duration and content.

I haven’t given that tour myself yet and only followed it once, so I was glad that Travis scheduled one for the afternoon and that I could “shadow” him. While my basic content is definitely there (in terms of insight, this is an extended summit talk with more opportunities to discuss the permanent change in and around Kilauea and to experience some first hand specimen of landslide rock samples, Pele’s Hair, lava rocks, young pioneering Ohia Lehua, Sandalwood and many more), walking past so many other things needs a profound knowledge for any possible questions or spontaneous or break outs. Travis proved this just perfectly, as a native to this island he has so many stories and legends to share that I really need to pick up, including the legends between the Hawaii State Fish

Humuhumunukunukuapua’a – “fish that grunts like a pig”

and his fight with Pele Honua Mea (the sacred earth) / Pele ai honua (who devours the land) and her sister

Hiʻiakaikapoliopele.

With some further ideas noted down and the trail organized with many photographs to follow up, I will do this trail myself again and put down my outline and theme to have it ready next week. This looks like really a good 2nd stage trail for myself before I up the difficulty further and will be working on a more complex and probably longer trail – not sure which one, it may become Kilauea Iki, which seems to have been offered rarely recently, or a combination of Sulphur&Steam, Earthquake and Halema’uma’u trail.

But for now, it is my weekend…

This is the BBC’s last day at the set, and I was lucky to be just a small part of it from as early as 6 o’clock in the morning. And a glorious morning it was, no clouds in sight, Halema’uma’u was fuming at her best and the light was soft and golden with the sun at the low angle of the early morning. It is a pity the BBC could not start the live session until 9 o’clock when the sun was already higher up, but still this was the probably most perfect setting anyone could imagine.

My main task was really to keep the bustling crowd, especially the crew with the cameras, sound recorders and especially the miles and miles of cables to the paths and trails set out for them and off all the native and endangered plants, which had been marked with yellow tape and red flags by the Ecology Crew of HAVO earlier on. However, there was plenty of time, especially after everyone from the film team was in place, to observe the rehearsals, last minute changes and the live sessions of the production. This time the satellite link seemed to work without any problems, and everyone was in a good mood to bring the series to a successful end.

After the last second of the live footage was done, everyone was clapping and cheering, it seemed really like a very good live production, and the responsibles on site explained also why – pressure had been up a lot after a not-so-good live series of the BBC earlier on this year, and everyone felt it was their responsibility to make it work this time. I think they really did a good job, and after having watched most of the broadcast now at least twice or several times except for the last and final episode which I have saved for tonight (perhaps I am in there, at one of the camera rigs wide angle movements over the entire setup??).

So in any case, if you got the chance to catch that series somewhere on the web or ready for download as a podcast or broadcasted again at a later showing somewhere on the BBC or other channels (I anticipate it will be sold to other channels at one point), by all means do watch it, I really think it is a fascinating series recounting the stories of some of our most interesting volcanoes in this world. That being said, there have been a few glitches from the moderators throughout the program, the worst one probably being the last word of moderator Kate at the end of Episode 1 – I guess the nerve-racking moments of the live show were fading a little early and she was so glad that the whole thing had worked that she forgot the correct Hawaiian word, but it really is a big laugh – I need to find out what the people on the set said and did right after it happened, but this is a bad one.

All Wednesday was set aside for a party of five of us to hike out to the currently active lava flow. Signs and information were really promising the days before the hike, with active lava front reportedly only .4 miles out from the ocean front. Well, read again. The morning update from HVO reached us when we were ready to go at the trail head (not sure what to call it, really, as there is no trail anyway) at the end of Chain of Craters Road, saying that the lava may now be again at or beyond the park boundary (on the Kalapana or the “wrong” side from Chain of Craters, that is) and potentially >1 km from the ocean.

That promised to be a gruelsome hike, especially with the full sun out and no shade. At least the instructions that we were giving to the visitors are right! In fact, the hike proved to be so gruelsome across the lava, up and down and left and right, again, that I had to give up about 1.5 hours into the hike – my feet were just not keeping up. The blisters from my Mauna Loa hike haven’t healed out fully yet, and where the soft new skin is coming out I could immediately feel new blisters forming through the shoes already. This would not have ended well had I pushed it to get there, so at Beacon 4 I called it off and returned on my own.

The other guys were lucky enough to find the active flow here and actually got some pretty nice pictures. Which did not cheer me up. And in addition, that night Episode 3 from the Volcano Live BBC broadcast showed exactly the footage that I had wanted to get, the timelapse of an advancing lava front, which did not cheer me up either, although the footage is really impressive and credit goes to the photographer / filmer who did it.

On the other hand, I had plenty of time getting two other timelapses, including the one from Beacon 2 shown here and one from the end of Chain of Craters Road which I still have to upload.

Let’s hope that the inflation cycles at Kilauea is strong, that lava will be flowing more intensely and that the direction of the flows will be more favorably to hike out there!

The British “BBC” has selected Halema’uma’u as their headquarters and live broadcast location for their 4 episode-long program “Volcano Live“, a documentary about the 25-30 ongoing, active volcanoes around the world, with Kilauea here on the Big Island of Hawai’i being the world’s most active, with two ongoing eruptions at the same time.

I may have a chance to go out to the filming site as one of two of the volunteers – doing nothing really, just being there as a back up and to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Find below a few screenshots taken from the webcast program of Episode 1 “Volcano Live”.

Above and Below is the name of the program that takes you into the rainforest for a little hike and then into the Nahuku (Thurston) Lava tube, and the chief of the program is Shyla. I went along with her as “sweeper”, but I can tell you I personally have crossed off that program from my future development and to-do list. It is a great hike, and probably it would make sense to offer it early in the morning for dedicated visitors, but in the afternoon it is just so busy and crowded that I would not have the patience to herd all the visitors and all the tag-alongs through.

You start at the trailhead of Kilauea Iki crater, but actually don’t follow the trail counterclockwise but hike the last section clockwise towards the Lava tube – this is the “above” section and gives you great insight into the rainforest and how the native Hawaiians made use of it. I guess it can be seen as an extended “summit” walk per its content, or a short version of the Iliahi Trail.

However, observing the visitors, most just come for the “Below” part, which is the stroll through the Lava Tube, Nahuku – this one, unlike the one from last wednesday, is open to the public and really draws the crowds, especially later in the afternoon when most people from the Kailua-Kona or Waikoloa resorts have realized how long the drive is and have finally arrived here in the park. I counted approx. 30 people at the beginning of Shyla’s program at the trailhead, and we had 47 total, apparently with some picked up along the way, before we entered the cave. At the end, it was probably close to 100, as it was difficult to make other people, catching up from behind, pass, and it felt really like we were clogging up the whole tube. I just don’t have the patience for this type of job, but Shyla was so patient and apparently has ample experience doing her talk in this much of a crowd, which is really to be admired. This may also have to do with me being up sine 4 am to catch the Wimbledon Finals, and I am really glad that I did get up to watch it, a truly historical match – just as a BTW.

I guess I have to find a trick on how to organize my program if I really am successful in outlining a day-long, 5-6 hour program like “Earthquakes, Craters and Caves”, which would also include Nahuku but follow a completely different path. I guess next week I can work a little on that before we have the next festival in the park!

The "Above" Part, hiking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The "Below" Part, hiking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

There was a good chance to go roving today. I had sort of a strange schedule, being on the KVC1 shift (opening at 07:30) and quite busy throughout the morning. Most of the slots for activities were taken during the huddle meeting, which I missed due to being tied to a french party of 4 that wanted to know it all. However, I did not really want to be stuck inside KVC all day long, so I invented the “:15” programs. Usually the Ranger led activities start to the hour or the half hour, but because it was so busy (mostly with new people giving “how” talks) I thought I could just as well do a Summit Hike at 12:15 just after my lunch break.

It was pouring all morning long and I did not think to get many people but had actually about 20 walking out with me from the visitor center, and as we were leaving the flag pole it was clearing up to an extent that we could actually see directly into Halema’uma’u from both overlooks – neat.

In the afternoon, a Kipuka Puaulu program was on, and as I had not ever done that trail before but had sent people out there for the vegetation and the bird watching opportunities, I wanted to make sure and tried to tag along. So out I was again by 2 o’clock, and we both hoped that there would be visitors coming along as this was a remote area outside the main Crater Rim of the park.

A “Kipuka” is an island of life surrouding barren lava, vegetation or a forest that was spared from the flow. In fact, Kipuka, like Pahoehoe and A’a, is one of the Hawaiian terms that has made it into standard geological speech. It is a gentle 1 mile loop that takes about 1 hour to walk, and there’s plenty of native or endemic species out here that you may not see anywhere else in the park. Unfortunately, none of the visitors had heeded our call to the hike, and the car following us – we hoped it would be for the hike – turned off the road just before the trailhead, so I got a private tour from the Ranger, which was just as fine. If you want to do the hike yourself, visit the “Virtual Hike Page” for this particular trail – Enjoy!

Native Hawaiian Morning Glory, Kipuka Puaulu, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Pukiawe Berries, Kipuka Puaulu, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park