Photos 6, page 17
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Lava Hike
| December 23, 2009 |
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| This was more for exercise than for any discovery. I just wanted to finish the hike of two days ago where I was going to head out to Royal Gardens. I figured it was only a couple of miles exploration and an hour back... I even got an earlier start than usual to give me some extra time to play when I got out there... |
| Well it turned out to be 3 miles and took me 2 hours to get out there (green line). By the time I got there, I was so hot and tired that after I ate some lunch I ended up dozing off and did get back on the trail for an hour and a half, at 1:40. That meant 2 hours back would be after 3:00 - the time I like to be out of the parking area. As it turned out, using the GPS allowed me to take a more direct route (magenta line) and I made it back in and hour and a half. There were people already there getting set up but I was able to get out of there without being arrested! |
| 10:13 AM Got an early start. |
| 10:25 AM @ 003 The helicopters were out in force today. Here are two... |
| 10:26 AM @ 003 I'm headed for the bottom of the interested in that steam on the left...vegetated area on the pali. I'm also |
| 10:31 AM @ 004 You can see the plume from Pu'u O'o over the top of the pali |
| 10:32 AM @ 004 3 helicopters. They made a racket all day long... |
| 10:52 AM approaching "Vent" |
| 10:54 AM @ "Vent" |
| 10:55 AM @ "Vent" |
| 10:55 AM @ "Vent" As you can see from the map image above right, I'm right on top of the lava tube (dull yellow line). Underneath my feet, probably not more than a foot or two feet down, is a river of lava... |
| 11:01 AM Looking back at the vent and the ocean entry in the background |
| 11:10 AM & 11:18 AM @ "Rest" This was the only shade I could find out there. I didn't even fit but I took a quick break... |
| 11:45 AM @ 012 Getting closer. Not a cloud in the sky (that's fumes from Pu'u O'o above the ridge). It's hot and I'm tired. The black lava absorbs some of the heat but you can see the reflectivity of it as well which basically puts me in an oven... |
| 11:55 AM @ 014 Getting even closer. I have my eyes glued to the bottom of that slope on the left where the trees meet the lava... |
| 12:07 PM @ 016 The toe of the slope to the right of the vegetation. Somewhere in here I sat and watched the lava come down the hill on 2/28. I marked it on the map as "2-28 Sit" but I didn't know exactly where it was when I was out there - I forgot to upload the data point to my GPS before I came out... |
| 12:10 PM |
| 2:09 PM @ "Dot" I'm headed for that little white dot in the vegetation to the right of all those houses in the distance. |
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