Hawaii: Day 14 (15 June 2009)

Last full day of vacation... so sad! We spent the day at Volcanoes National Park. One day isn't enough to do justice to the park but... that's all we had left. We stopped at the visitor center first to find out about the conditions of the park and lava flow. We found out that because of the high level of carbon dioxide spewing forth from Halema'uma'u Crater part of the Crater Rim Road was closed.

Anyway, We made our way to the crater overlook and stopped to see the steam vents and get our first view of the Crater. It was vast! The crater you see in this picture it just a "small" crater within an enormous one called the Kilauea Caldera. To give you an idea of how large this Caldera is, take a look at the crater, it is about a half mile across. The Caldera is nearly 4 miles across! Imagine an eruption that could have caused such an vast crater.

We followed the road around to the Jagger (not "Mick") Museum and Overlook for a closer view of the Crater. This was also as far as we could go because of the current spewing forth of toxic gasses! At the museum we learned about the different types of lava and how they are formed.

As we backtracked along the Crater Rim Road and followed the Chain of Craters Road we stopped by many of the overlooks to get different views of the Caldera and of many other craters.

We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube. A lava tube is a tunnel formed as lava flows down a ravine or river bed and as the edges of the lava cools and hardens it insulates the lava inside keeping it hot and allowing it to keep flowing. As the eruption stops the lava continues to empty out of the tube leaving the tunnel behind.

As we walked through the 600 foot tunnel it was eerie to think of the molten rock that once flowed thought the spot on which we stood.

The first 600 feet of the tube was lit but there was another 1200 feet or so that went on unlit. I had flashlights so Laura and I continued on to the end. There wasn't much to see but in places where parts of the walls had caved in the rocks were an amazing variety of colors.

We had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant just outside of the park called The Kiawe Kitchen. We indulged in a thin-crust pizza and a delicious roast beef sandwich.

After the scrumptious lunch dad lost all his will to remain coherent! He would revive just long enough to take a look at the places we stopped then once we got back into the car he was out like a light!

The Sea Arch and the end of the Chain of Craters Road was our last stop in the park.

The arch was at least 100 feet high. All along this shore were shear cliffs that the ocean would pound against. The waves would surge into the cliffs and send sprays all the way to the top.

Several eruptions in the '80s and '90s flowed over the road and even a little coastal town closing the road... and the town for that matter. From the end of the road we walked on the lava, took a few pictures, and headed back the way we came.

This is a view of the hillside as we went back up the road. From the different colors of lava you could tell what type it was. The lighter gray color is the smooth, ropey looking pahoehoe and the dark red is the jagged and rough a'a. OK, so we've seen enough old cooled lava... time to try and see some red-hot flowing lava. The current lava flow was not in the park so we had to make our way out and back around to the other side of the Chain of Craters Road... had the road not been closed it would have taken just a few minutes to get there but as it was the drive was about an hour and half long.

We were a bit disappointed to find out that the closest they would let us get was about a half mile away from the flow. We got there pretty early (the best time to see anything is at night) so we just settled in and watched the billowing smoke.

We had been lucky thus far; we hadn't been rained on at all and for one of the wettest city in the country that is something indeed! Well, as we waited our luck ran out. It rained on us, not too hard and we did have a nice "bonus"! This was the brightest rainbow I have ever seen! It was amazing.

As the sun went down we saw flashes of red as lava would erupt into the ocean. The crowds would "ooh" and "ah" but though the smoke and sunset were beautiful it wasn't like all the pictures you see in the travel books of people standing next to the flowing lava... oh well.

The sunset over the volcano and through the smoke and vapor made for some pretty cool colors then it rained on us again. By the time we made it back to the car we were pretty much soaked.

It was a good last day. We have been so blessed during the whole of this trip, we've seen things found no where else in the world. We have seen Gods creations, we have seen Him creating and changing the world still. I am reminded of the primary children's song... "My Heavenly father Loves Me"

1. Whenever I hear the song of a bird          2. He gave me my eyes that I might see
    Or look at the blue, blue sky,                      The color of butterfly wings.
    Whenever I feel the rain on my face             He gave me my ears that I might hear
    Or the wind as it rushes by,                         The magical sound of things.
    Whenever I touch a velvet rose                    He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:
    Or walk by our lilac tree,                              I thank him rev’rently
    I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world       For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
    Heav’nly Father created for me.                    Yes, I know Heav’nly Father loves me.

I am thankful for this beautiful world and I know that God created it for me!