Saturday, January 5, 2013

New Years Day Lava Hike!

You know what was missing in 2012? LAVA! So I decided to fix that for 2013. I went out to the ocean entry with some colleagues (and friends) from UH, UAF, and UW. I don't have anything profound to say, I am really still buzzing from the experiences, so this is going to be another photo post, but I hope you enjoy the photos!

P.S. The current eruption is now 30 years old! Most up-to-date eruption information can be found here
There once was a house here... well a green house. 

There also once was a trail

Tree molds are awesome!

Lets play I spy. I spy a lava tube!

Ocean entry

Old ocean entry

Ocean entry

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

LAVA

Ocean entry

Offering

It felt just like walking on older flows but when I looked down... RED!

My foot, and lava. 

One of the best days of my life! My rock hammer was handed around so everyone in our group could poke at, and pick up lava. I just couldn't get enough!


3 comments:

Unknown said...

hi - VERY cool (err ... hot?) photos! Question: I've been told by an old classmate who is now prof of volcanology at U Hawaii that it is "illegal" for people to get so close to active lava flows and dip their hammers in ... how did your group manage it...?

Pohaku said...

Excellent question! We went out with CSAV (Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~csav/) who have a permit to hike out from the Kalapana side and, yes, get that close, and dip hammers in! :) We had an excellent guide!

Courtney said...

Envious of you! Awesome - I'm definitely including a link in my volcano post If that doesn't show up right, it's http://www.mauijungalow.com/2013/04/v-is-for-volcano.html. Got this via Satswithmaggy.