Photos 6, page 15
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Lava Hike
| December 17, 2009 |
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| I've been wanting to go out to where I used to start my hikes before the lava flow covered the end of the road so I uploaded the old start place (2-28 Start) to my GPS and hiked out there, just to see what it looked like. Once I got there, I decided to hike on out to the coast and see if I couldn't get an angle on seeing the lava entering the ocean. I've been avoiding going out to the ocean entry because of the dire warnings posted on the HVO web page: HAZARD ALERT: The lava delta and adjacent areas both inland and out to sea are some of the most hazardous areas on the flow field. Frequent delta/bench collapses give little warning, can produce hot rock falls inland and in the adjacent ocean, and can produce large local waves. The steam plume produced by lava entering the ocean changing conditions near the ocean entry have been responsible for many injuries and a few deaths. |
| Hike out (green line), hike back (magenta line). The blue line on the right image marks the path to the public viewing area. The pink areas show recent lava flows, the red areas show the most recent flows. The dull yellow line marks the lava tube through which the lava is flowing to the ocean. |
| 11:15 AM At the top of the path to the viewing area, you can see that the wind is blowing inland. Could be a problem... |
| At the head of the trail there's this sign --> ALOHA 3/4 MILE TRAIL 15-20 MINUTES CURRENT ACTIVITY: Day View: Only Steam Night View: RED GLOW w/ occasional explosions *minimal to NO view of Flowing Lava. *Viewing Area is 1/2 mile from ocean entry. |
| 11:17 AM @ Hut That's Pu'u O'o steaming just above the ridge (pali). Notice which way the wind's blowing: East. That means Pahoa, Kea'au, and Hilo are getting it... |
| 11:26 AM @ 006 Another view of the pali without the bushes in the way. |
| 11:26 AM @ 006 And a panorama to show how freaking empty this land is. Note also the haze... This is also how it looks at "2-28 Start" |
| 12:13 PM @ 012 See the pier-to-post connectors? There used to be a house here. If you look really close you can see it in the left map image above - the little white circle just at the end of the "2" in "012" |
| <-- 11:30 AM @ 007 There's people out there. It's the USGS people doing their thing... 12:04 PM @ 011 --> That cloud's blowing right at me. I think I ought to get out of here... |
| And here it is from 4/3/07. I don't think they ever got it finished before it got wiped out... |
| 12:38 PM @ 013 A vent over the lava tube |
| 12:41 PM @ 015 |
| 12:42 PM @ 015 |
| 12:46 PM @ 018 Looking at "Vent 2" |
| 12:47 PM @ 018 "Vent 2" |
| 1:02 PM @ 019 It's hot, I'm tired, I'm looking for shade |
| 1:31 PM @ "Rest 2" Ahhhh! |
| 1:33 PM @ "Rest 2" |
| For some reason, that little hill in the trees looks interesting... |
| 1:42 PM @ "Camp" An old campsite. Looks like somebody lived here for awhile. Then left everything behind. Kind of sad... |
| 1:56 PM @ 021 I'm heading in the direction of that lone palm tree in the distance. My car is about halfway there... |
| over behind where the plume is. On my way back, I stopped by those vents you can see on the right. |
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