SUNDAY, JANUARY 17. Volcano!

Park Center and Kilauea Iki

At 8:00 AM we bus with Ron to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.  He jokes about Earl (his friend, who is the bus driver) being a safe driver:  “He always keeps two tires on the road.”  We’re going back to the summit, starting at the park center, to see helpful displays about the volcanoes. 

Ron explains why Hawaii has shield volcanoes (not pointy ones).  As a hot spot arises, it melts the basalt.  Here, it is low in silica so the magma is fluid, yielding long, thin flows.  On the continent (like Mount St. Helen’s), the magma has lots of silica, yielding stiff lava. 

Here, lots of gas erupts, especially the dangerous (to animals and plants) sulfur dioxide.  I can hardly believe it but 5,000 tons of sulfur  dioxide are shot into the air each day!  Talk about air pollution…

A volcanologist/videographer and delightful person, Cheryl, joins us.  Ron and Andrew are very excited that she is able to teach us.  Our group splits into two for a 3+ mile hike on Kilauea Iki through a native rain forest down to the floor of the Kilauea caldera and back.  (Volcanologists call it a caldera if it’s a mile in diameter or wider.  Volcano holes smaller than that are called pit craters.)

 Ron explains that years ago the absorptive golden wool of native tree ferns (Hapu’u pulu) was used for dressing wounds by earlier Hawaiians and sold to Australia for mattress stuffing.  Unfortunately, in short order they mash down to nothing; flat mattress. The plant uses it to protect new growth from drying.

Ohia tree with red flower

The marvelous fast-growing Ohia trees were sold for railroad ties because their trunks look tall and strong.  Again, unfortunately, the buyers did not know that when Ohia lumber dries, it curves.  Oops!

 As we walk down, we see a huge round cinder cone called Pu’u Pua’i.  There is so much to see above and around me; but I need to look down because of rocks and roots. 

 Then I see the erupting volcano we saw last night.  

  It is important to stay on the trail because of deep ground cracks, hidden by effusive foliage.  A scientist, marking off sections for a research study, fell into a deep crack and was found two days later.  I remember a deep blue-ice crevasse I saw while walking on an Icelandic glacier; scary to contemplate falling in.
 

 Thanks to fences, ferrel pigs are kept from destroying native plants.  Volunteers are removing non-native and horribly aggressive kahili ginger, which Ron shows us.

 
  Pa’iniu, a native lily, can now grow in opened spaces.

Ron was smart in having us go down the steeper part of the loop first, when we are still fresh.  Several of us with shorter legs are very grateful to have handrails at these tricky parts. 

 Far below us, I see some folks already down on the crater floor.

 Once we get down there it seems other-worldly.

 White gas comes up from steam vents.  I gingerly put my fingers to one; hot! 

 

 Black lava with minerals inside show their colors.  Small lava ferns come up amongst all that.  As does the hardy pioneer Ohia tree with the brilliant red flowers, the only color.  

It’s actually kind of spooky except for that red. 
I feel like I’m walking on the set of a science fiction movie. 
 
If this were Georgia, it would be hellish in the Summer.  Interesting that Hawaii’s climate is moderate and mostly steady.  Average summer high (May-Oct) is 85 F.  Average winter high (Nov-Apr) is 78 F.  I wonder what our summer temperatures in the 100's would do to this lava.

After I walk back up the trail I notice the strong red roots of the Ohia tree exposed right near where our van waits for us.  

Volcano House

$50+ Hawaiian shirt

 Before lunch in the Volcano House we see  another spectacular view from the windows of the restaurant.  After lunch, I cruise the gift shop and am so grateful I shopped at the Salvation Army.  The Spam-flavored macadamia nuts are hard to resist though.  Just kidding.

 Jaggar Museum

After lunch, we are led by Cheryl.   We see and learn so much, my brain is somewhat overwhelmed.  I take notes and museum brochures, record voice memos, take pictures and video clips — all to help remind me later what I was taught.  If I learned everything I’m taught, I would be so knowledgeable and a terrific conversationalist.  However…  When I make a few videos of this incredible adventure, I’ll use those memory helpers.

 One thing that piques my interest is a term I had never heard before:  “Pele’s hair.”  And now I see it at the Jaggar Museum.  It is thin strands of volcanic glass, “formed when molten lava is ejected into the air.” 

It looks like my mother’s hair, a soft blondish-brown.

 Cheryl was asked to take video of the erupting Kilauea Volcano because too many reporters were doing risky things trying to record Summer 2015 activities.  Ron said it’s a marvelous set of two DVD’s.

Someone asks whether there is a geothermal power plant.  Yes, below the park.   It produces 38 megawatts, equalling one-fourth of what is used on the island.  This helps because Hawaii has the most severe energy cost in the nation.  There are some small wind farms.  Many people have photovoltaic water heaters.  Cheryl says after they set up solar at her house, her $500/m electric bill (to keep her home video studio air conditioned), is now down to zero.  

Thurston Lava Tube

We walk through a rain forest area which includes many native tree ferns.  

 
Descending carefully and slowly we arrive at the opening of the Thurston Lava Tube.  This is like a small subway tunnel but we (Road Scholar group) and about 30 Japanese travelers are the cars.  It is cool and damp and dark.  Cheryl’s flashlight indicates cooled lava above, under, and beside us.  (See an earlier blog entry for how these are formed.)

I can’t believe a fern is already growing in there.  I’ve always treated them gently but they obviously
are a hardy bunch if given water and warmth.

Lua Manu

Cheryl in lava field with untouched forest behind

At a short stop at Lua Manu we see, strikingly, where lava flowing in 1974 stopped abruptly, allowing what was left of the forest to continue existing.  This makes it a great research site to compare/contrast vegetation over time.

Not a lot of vegetation in the lava but this is a cutie of some sort.

It’s neat to see small mineral deposits in the basalt.  I find some olivine (which is green).

 Last Night of our Program

 Sunset out my hotel room window is beautiful.  My first plane leaves Hilo tomorrow after breakfast.  It will be a two-day trip home.   I am ready to stop learning so intensively,  paying attention to plane schedules instead.  This exciting adventure has been absolutely wonderful and informative in oh so many ways but my mildly damaged and elderly brain is ready for a rest.  I hope to meet some of my curious and friendly fellow Road Scholars on future trips.