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Published: November 9th 2013
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Steam vent
Gosh, I love this stuff....! Today was our last full day on the Big Island...
We decided to return to the Volcano National Park (We have a senior pass but an admission is good for seven days...very good thing to know...) and hike the Kilauea Iki Trail. It is the "one hike to take if you can only do one.." and lived up to the hype....
You begin at a parking lot on Crater Road and descend slowly for more than a mile to the crater floor through beautiful jungle. Just before we reached the crater level, we took a side path to the Byron Ledge
Trail, where Princess Kapiolani stood on the rim of the Kilauea crater and defied Pele and cemented Christianity when nothing happened to her. "As Kapiolani stood at the edge of this molten abyss, she declared the superiority of her new faith and (it is said) ate the sacred
'ohelo berries without first giving some to goddess. Although she had been told by a
kahuna (priest) of Pele that she would die, Kapiolani stood her ground and defied centuries of tradition, to the awe and amazement of the onlookers. Her act at Halema'uma'u was a defining moment that illustrates
Looking in to Kilauea Iki crater fromn the trail head
This was heavily forested until the 1959 eruptions... for us today the profound change that took place at that time in Hawai'i." Lord Byron wrote a poem about it and thus perhaps the name of the ledge. (Or it could be named after his cousin, an Admiral who came to Hawaii)
"The Kilauea Iki pit crater formed near the top of the Ai-laau shield, a vent for Kilauea volcano about 350-500 years ago. The Ai-laau eruption was probably fed by a shallow magma chamber a few miles below the surface. Magma within this chamber either erupted on the surface or drained down into deeper levels within the volcano. After the eruption ceased, the chamber was no longer full and exerted less pressure on the surrounding rocks. The weight of the overlying rocks was greater that the upward pressure in the chamber. The rocks above the chamber collapsed, filling the open space within the chamber and causing the surface to collapse, making Kilauea Iki crater. The collapsed probably occurred between 350 and 200 years ago."
"Prior to the 1959 eruption, Kilauea Iki was nearly 600 feet deep and heavily forested. The Kilauea Iki eruption began on November 14, 1959 and last 36 days. During that time there
Tree ferns
Each one can live to be 75 years old...when they "die", they send out roots and continue to live on in new young trees.... were 17 episodes of lava fountaining. The eruption filled the crater with 390 feet (120 m) of new lava and constructed the Puu Puai cinder cone."
The middle of the hike is across the crater, formed in 1959, after the massive eruption. We were walking on land younger than we are! There are steam vents and hot spots all across the center of the crater....very cool! The last part is a climb up through jungle...The whole hike is four miles and it took us about 2.5 hours with lots of stops...
It misted on us a few times, but we avoided the heavier rain we could see across the crater.
After another delicious meal at Café Ono in Volcano, we headed back to our rental, stopping on the way at one of the local Hilo beach parks so I could get in one last swim....as I walked into the water, in a rocky pool, I realized that several of the rocks were actually very big turtles....! I backed away and watched them for awhile, took a quick swim...and we headed back to pack...
Tomorrow we drive the Saddle Road (over the saddle between the Mauna Loa
and Mauna Kea volcanos) back to the Kona side, to the airport...and home....
Aloha.....
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Max
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So cool!!
Looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing.