The first night we arrived to the national park, we were able to see Halema'uma'u Crater glowing in the distance. It is about 1 mile away from this picture. Because of the hazardous volcanic fumes, we could not get any closer.
We "camped" in the park (aka: slept in our car) the first night and woke up to this gorgeous view.
This plume of smoke is coming from Halema'uma'u crater. The foreground of the picture is an old lava flow from the early 70's.
Rather than exploding (ie: Mount St. Helen's), Kilauea Volcano oozes and bubbles lava. The lava flows downhill to the sea, covering everything in its path. The different textures of lava depend on the heat and amount of gas in the lava when it hardens. 'A'a lava is the sharp and jagged while pahoehoe lava is more smooth and ropy.
There is a lush forest right next to the lava fields
Kilauea Iki Crater erupted in 1959. Over a 5 week period it made a lava lake over 400ft deep. You can see how hazy it looks in this picture. This is sulfur dioxide gas in the air. We were coughing and Kurt's eyes were beet red by the end of this hike.
Kurt is standing in front of the main lava vent. Lava spewed 1900 feet into the air from this spot.
This trail is not handicapped accessible!
There are still steam vents throughout the crater floor. It was too hot to stand in the steam so we let Stanley do it instead.
It took 30 years for the lava lake to completely harden.
In the midst of a barren wasteland, new life is starting to grow.
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