Today
Sections
More
Features
advertisement
|
your ad here
Home of the San Francisco Chronicle
- Weekend Getaways
- SF Guide
- Neighborhoods
- Wine Country
- Reno-Tahoe
- Hawaii
- Mexico
- Travel Features
- Vacation Rentals
Volcanic activity
Where lava lovers can go with the flow
The lava show is back on the island of Hawai'i, where a pond of molten rock glows in Halema'uma'u Crater and fiery flows cross the highway and threaten homes in Kalapana on their way to the sea.
If you can't make it to the Big Island, there's an intriguing ringside seat online, Hawaiian Lava Daily, an image-rich blog created by Kapoho photographer and surfer Leigh Hilbert. His July 19 entry includes shots of the viewing area at the end of Highway 130, an explanation of the phenomenon of deflation (which has slowed the lava's movement), descriptions of the near-miss of his neighbor Gary's house and links to the official U.S. Geological Survey Kīlauea updates, among many other useful sources. There's also a link to the trailer (also embedded below) for "From Mountain to Sea," Hilbert's 84-minute HD lava movie with riveting scenes from this spring's pyrotechnics.
But if you are able to make it to Moku O Keawe, plan to spend more than a couple of daytime hours at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
"To come and not spend the night is to either miss out on the after-dark phenomena of the volcano, or to have a late drive back, most likely to Kona," notes Gail Lucille, who operates a rainforest treehouse and wedding facility across from Volcano Village and sent in this update late Monday night:
"We went down tonight. The civil defense people are way cautious and hold people so far back from the lava you cannot feel the heat of it. But they do not show up until the afternoon, so it is possible to arrive earlier in the day and wander closer. Cautiously. I have never seen so many people lava viewing as today. There were hundreds of people, many local."
I've done the dark and winding road back to Kona and the overnight in Volcano (a rental cottage operated by Kīlauea Lodge) and I second the latter approach. Kīlauea Lodge, Chalet Kīlauea and My Island Inn are some of the larger options for accommodations that Lucille suggested to me in a recent e-mail, along with the treehouse and other residences rented at HomeAway.com. But the most famous lodgings in the area aren't available, as she related:
"There is a large scale contest going on at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park for the award of the concessions at Volcano House. Volcano House is currently closed, and Pele's fire was allowed to go out -- a fire that had been burning ever since the first Volcano House opened. The restaurant/hotel/bar sits on the rim of Kilauea, and on a rare night you used to be able to watch the sun set over the volcano. Rare as weather here so often misty and cloudy. Now, with the cauldron of lava rising and falling in the inner pit, it is an every evening sight to behold as dusk settles in. But you cannot have the comfort of Volcano House -- wear a jacket! On clear nights, and there are many this time of year, the Milky Way spreads overhead, and billions of stars fill the sky.
"It is very unclear what interests are involved in the bidding process. News media is covering bits and pieces of it, but we are not told about the entities bidding or their plans. As the Volcano House is integral to the community here, it would be nice if there was more transparency. There is one bidder who is very public -- Volcano Project. Their plans are to run the concession as a nonprofit with a culinary institute, offering scholarships to local people. In its best incarnation, this could be the birthing ground of a new non-corporate use of our national parks to better serve the people as a whole and the communities in which they are located. Nevertheless, the National Park Service is demanding a huge amount of money be raised up front to fund building renovations and retrofits, which are going on in the background and behind yellow tape."
Hilo, of course, also offers lodging options convenient for evening lava gazing, as well as helicopter and boat tours that quickly bring you close to the brimstone. But if you have more money than time, Paradise Copters flies from Kona (as well as from Hilo) with an option to land in Hilo for several hours of on-the-ground sightseeing before a second leg of volcanic viewing. Online prices start at $434 per adult for the Kona-based Volcano & Valley Landing tour, compared to $193 for the Hilo-based Fire & Falls Adventure.
And don't forget the free show on the Internet....
| July 19 2010 at 11:53 PM
Over the volcano: Webcam reveals lava flow
Looking for lava flowing in and around Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park can often be a frustrating pursuit: As dramatic as the steaming vents of Kīlauea can be, it's often unsafe, impractical or expensive (e.g. helicopter flights) to get a really good look in person at glowing, molten rock. But browsers of the U.S. Geological Survey's Webcam have been rewarded this week with spectacular scenes of a lava pond in Halema'uma'u Crater filling, draining and refilling, similar to the Dec. 28, 2009, event captured in the Quicktime movie pictured below (click on the link):
Readers Dwayne Conn and Gary Dunn of Flagstaff, Ariz., alerted me to the latest display of "eruptive activity," as the USGS calls it, after they watched the Webcam at Halema'uma'u Overlook for two hours Wednesday night. But don't worry that you've missed it all. Not only is lava continuing to fill the collapse pit (whose bottom is some 935 feet below the rim of Halema'uma'u), the USGS' Images page has impressive still photos (see the example below) and clear accounts of the volcanic processes taking place (the Update page has more detailed, scientific language, along with a helpful glossary).
Appropriately enough, this is "Volcano Awareness Month" in Hawai'i County (a/k/a the Big Island), where Kalapana was buried under lava 20 years ago, where Kapoho saw streams of lava 40 years ago and where Kīlauea has -- as of Jan. 3 -- been erupting continuously for 27 years in its east rift zone. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the national park, Hawai'i County Civil Defense and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo are offering special public events, hikes and programs all month along; check out the "At-a-Glance Calendar" link here.
The USGS Webcam recorded "a river lava pouring into a deeper plunge pool of lava" within a collapse pit in Halema'uma'u Crater on Jan. 7.
| January 08 2010 at 07:30 AM
more