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Published: June 23rd 2017
Kilauea Caldera
This is enormous !!Geo: 19.4, -155.3
As Big Island is all volcanic, it is natural that one should visit the National Volcano Park. On the Big Island 20% of the juice is volcano–powered. They drilled a basketball-sized hole a mile deep and when they did, steam shot up at pressures similar to what you would find inside a SCUBA tank. They us the steam to turn turbines. The underground water source is naturally replaced by the ocean's pressure, so it will last a long time – at least until the surrounding rock cools.
The star of the National Park is undoubtedly Kilauea. In all the world there isn't a more active volcano and yet, none is more visitor-friendly. It is a bit of an enigma – you cannot see it anywhere on the island and it doesn't look like a volcano. In fact, it is a caldera. It used to be a dome-shaped volcano until it's magma chamber "ran dry" and the whole lot came tumbling down. The caldera is enormous. The Crater Rim Drive is 11 miles long !! Within the caldera is the Halema'uma'u crater which is still spewing out hot steam. All round the caldera there are lots of steam vents. The steam,
of course, contains lots of sulphur, but unlike Rotorua, the area didn't smell of rotten eggs.
The park is operated by the federal government and the many of the rangers are volunteers and they do guided walks. I joined the one for sulphur banks steam vents. The ranger, Ruthie, was very engaging and her head was cramped full of facts about the park, the volcanoes (there are lots within the Park), native flora and fauna. I just wished I could remember more of what she said. I did take video of some part of her walk, so perhaps I would re-discover some interesting snippets later. One thing I did remember was one special plant that is only found on the Hawaiian Islands and it's called ‘Ohi'a lehua. It has spiky red flowers and can grow into trees that are 80 feet (!) tall. It's nectar is food to the ‘Apapane, a bird that is descended from finches, and are only found on this island. Being so specialised and inter-dependent, one wonders what their future would be like in spite of the best conservation efforts. Another rather sweet bird is called the Nene (macron on both the “e”😉 which is a
'Ohi'a Tree and Lehua Blossom
There is a Hawaiian legend relating to the tree and flower. But I'll leave you to look it up on Wikipaedia. Hawaiian goose descended from the Canadian goose. As it doesn't have any natural predators before human arrived, it has lost most of its wings and can only fly, more like flap for about 25 feet.
The guided walk took 2 hours, so when it finished it was time for lunch. Now if the park had been run by the National Trust, then there would be a nice tea room serving a range of sandwiches, hot and cold food and cakes. Oh, I would have sold my left kidney for a nice cup of tea and a piece of Victoria Sponge ! Yes, food is still the recurring theme here. But this is the US and there was nothing. I could have driven the 2 miles to the nearest town which is appt named Volcano. But i didn't. So left over Papaya Salad and a bagel will have to do.
There are numerous trails one could follow – hence the $10 per car entrance ticket was valid for a week. I followed the one to the Thurston's Lava Tube, which was fascinating. The volume of lava which flowed through here was mind boggling. The site has two halves, the lit and
cleaned up half and the undisturbed half. The undisturbed part was pitch black. Alas the torch I had was on the dim side(for such a vast area) so I couldn't really see a lot of the details. This is
real darkness. On the way to the lava tube, I followed part of the Kilauea Iki Trail. Kilauea Iki is another crater. When it spewed out lava, it shot molten rock three times the height of the Empire State Building. (You will have to check the height of the building separately.) Another factoid – there are no rivers in this region despite the high precipitation. Reason? The land is simply too new and the rain water simply seeps into the porous lava rocks.
To explore the rest of the vast park, a car is needed. The Chain of Craters Road was undoubtedly one of the highlights. It's 19 miles long that leads from the crate to the shore line, a descent of about 3500 ft/1028m. I drove through incredibly lush areas, tall ferns and ‘ohi'a trees dominated which turned into barren lava fields in a matter of several minutes. Along the route were a number of look out points showing various lava flows from years gone by. After a while, you would notice that lava is not just lava. Depending on the cooling process, some are smooth with a metallic sheen. Others are rough and porous. While some show evidence of rippling like whipped cream and yet some look like ropes laid neatly in circles. Fascinating stuff. Some technical names; ‘a'a, pahoehoe, One of the most amazing sites along this route is the Pu'u Loa Petroglyph Trail. The area is studded with thousands of rock carvings representing various aspects of the Hawaiian life. Circles are the most common shape and they are usually holes within the circles. Into the holes which were bored by parents who placed the umbilical cords of their newborns for good luck. It is a serene area and it was not difficult to see why they chose this place for this sacred act.
Further down the road which cut across the vast “sea” of lava flows, leads abruptly to the sea. Here is the Holei Sea Arch where the ocean has undercut the rock, leaving an arch. A very dramatic setting. The end of the road is where the latest lava flow is. Unfortunately it seems that
the fissure has now closed and lava is not flowing out to sea there at present. No doubt the molten rock will find another opening and visitors will see the glowing amber once more.
Where the road ends stood the ancient village of Kalapana. This was destroyed by the eruption in 1990. The village was buried together with the Black Sand Beach at Kaimu under about 75 feet of lava. An area of 45 square miles was covered and a total of 185 homes were destroyed. Imagine what it must be like to have grown up in Kapalana. All that seemed permanent and timeless to you and perhaps sometimes taken for granted, are now simply no longer there and permanently erased. All traces of the past, gone. A rather sobering thought.
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Rob de Koning
non-member comment
Zo interessant allemaal. Echt fascinerend! Ga zo door.Als je terug bent in Waikiki, ga dan een keer ontbijtenin de Halekulani. Daar kan je lekker smullen!