One thing Facebook is very efficient at is telling you what you were up to one…three…five…etc years ago. It was one year ago we vacationed on the Big Island of Hawai’i. My son, wife, and I each chose one “big” thing to do while we were there. My “big” thing was to arrange for participation in a hike with “Epic Lava“. The eruption of the Pu’u ‘O’o vent had been going on since 1983, and while changes in the eruptive activity had often occurred since then, the eruption was relatively reliable, for those willing to hike to an area of actively flowing lava. Epic Lava Tours took visitors on hikes, promising to take you right up to active lava flows.
It was safe. It was semi-predictable. So we met the tour group at some ridiculously early time (4:00 AM?), and drove down to the southeastern coast. The road was closed at one point, and thus it was necessary to hike a few miles to get to the area of actively flowing lava. Epic Lava tried to time it so you arrived right around dawn, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. The sun rose just a few minutes before we reached an area where we saw our first actively flowing lava.
It was…incredible. It was mesmerizing watching the slowly moving lava, with sudden “breakouts” getting folks excited as we moved from location to location in search of the latest, newest flow. The HEAT was incredible. I guess we should have expected that, right? It’s molten rock! But it certainly amazing to not only see the lava from close range, but FEEL the heat and energy emanating from it.
A trip of a lifetime! Today…one year later…The Pu’u ‘O’o vent has collapsed, after a 35-year run of continuous eruptions! Today’s activity is certainly much more “exciting”, with occasional lava fountaining and a massive, molten river of lava that dwarfs what we saw. That activity is obviously devastating to those who have had their lives disrupted. The disruption extends to Epic Lava Tours, as that predictable, “safe” Pu’u ‘O’o flow is no longer available, and the owner is fighting for the right to bring visitors to the newest volcanic sights on the island. But once you see it, you’re “hooked”, and want to do it again. We hope to visit the Big Island again some day and see what sights Kilauea has to offer.
For now…today’s photo of the day, an example of the activity from Pu’u ‘O’o from last year.
I still haven’t had a lot of time to process all the Hawai’i photos and videos, but here are a few videos of some of the lava. I’m not much of a videographer (doesn’t help that I absolutely hate tripods), but you get the feel for what it’s like.
Just your casual, ordinary, every day hike this past Monday. We were vacationing on the Big Island of Hawai’i, and had booked a guide to take us to the active lava flows of Kilauea. We arose before 3:00 AM, met our guide at 4:00AM, and drove as close as you can get to the active flows. That’s a minimum of 3 to 4 miles away from either the surface flows or the lava’s entry point into the ocean, which meant a early morning hike was in order. It’s not the easiest hike in the world! For the first 2 miles, you’re following a gravel road and it’s easy, but to get to the active surface flows, we had to hike a good 1 1/2 to 2 miles across the rough, older flows from Kilauea.
A tiring hike, particularly on the way back when the sun starts beating down on you, but SO worth it! It was the hike of a lifetime, as we were able to experience active, flowing lava from as close as we could physically tolerate. 10 feet was about the limit for me, as any closer and the heat from the lava was overwhelming. An incredible experience for our little family! Here are some photos from the day…click on each photo for a larger view. When I have time to process video I’ll post out here as well.
The guide who took us to the exact location where lava was flowing on the surface was from EpicLava. Highly recommended, once-in-a-lifetime experience!!
I’m still trying to find to time to process photos and video from Yellowstone. I only had half a day to walk around the Upper Geyser Basin at Yellowstone, but it was really magical. I started walking the basin a bit before dawn, and it was 2 hours before I finally ran into another human being. The only sounds that you heard were the gurgling of the Firehole River, and the hissing, bubbling, roaring sounds of the many geothermal features in the area. A wonderful morning, and a morning I thought I’d try something different (for me, at least).
I’m still a neophyte with regard to video. Even with a DSLR that shoots wonderful video, I very rarely actually try it. I did use my Canon 70d for some video in Yellowstone last week, but most of the time when I wanted video instead of still photographs, I found myself using my iPhone 7. I frankly don’t use my iPhone for much of anything, really, and haven’t ever really used it for photography or video. Last week though I quickly found just how wonderful video quality can be using an iPhone. I’ll still always love shooting with my DSLR, particularly given my focus on birds and need for a long lens, but it’s nice knowing that I’ll have good video capabilities as well, just by carrying my phone.
Here are several videos of geothermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin and in the Fountain Paint Pots area of Yellowstone. So beautiful in winter, and the geothermal features have such a different look in the extreme cold.
This one is “Red Spouter”, a unique little hot spring/fumarole from the Fountain Paint Pots region. It’s a very new feature geologically. It didn’t exist until the massive Hebgen Lake earthquake of 1959, an event that changed a lot of the geothermal features in the park.
Fountain Paint Pots is adjacent to Red Spouter. I’ve seen the area in summer, when there’s more water available and it’s more like boiling water than boiling “mud”. It was rather cool to see the thick bubbling mud on a cold winter’s day.
The highlight of the trip was just after I arrived at the Snow Lodge near Old Faithful. The only way into the area in winter is by snow mobile or snow coach. I took a snow coach, and arrived at the Snow Lodge just as the sun was setting. We were told Old Faithful was likely to erupt in about 30 minutes, so I checked in, grabbed my camera, and headed for the geyser. The sun had already set, with just a bit of light still in the western horizon. I was rather shocked to find that I was all alone, rather stunning for someone who has been in Yellowstone many times during the summer months, and was used to throngs of people in the Old Faithful area. The eruption started, and I still was literally the only person watching. My only company? A pair of coyotes that loped in and started hunting around the boardwalks. A magical, solitary moment I’ll never forget.
Castle Geyser is a feature we’ve seen several times before in summer during our Yellowstone visits. It’s always interesting, with a large cone structure and some beautifully colored bacterial mats growing in the hot water runoff. However, we’ve never seen it erupt. Seeing it actually erupt on a morning where the temperatures were about 10-below zero was truly wonderful. The noise, the incredibly tall plume of steam, and again, having it all to myself…a great treat.
Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin is such an iconic feature, and I had to see it in winter. It’s only about a mile walk down from Old Faithful, and while the boardwalks and paths weren’t maintained, enough snowshoe and cross-country skiing traffic had occurred that it was “walkable”, even without snowshoes. Morning Glory is always beautiful, but alas, even in the 20 or so years since we’ve been going to Yellowstone, you can see a difference in the colors. It’s not as vibrant any more, due to visitors throwing debris in the pool that interferes with hot water movement into the pool. Still a beautiful feature though, particularly against a backdrop of snow and ice.
It’s not just the big iconic geothermal features that are an attraction in the Upper Geyser Basin. There are SO many little hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles that at times it’s hard to know where to look. This little feature is called “Scissors Spring”. Certainly a high-temperature feature, as it was vigorously boiling the entire time I watched.
One of the first erupting geysers I encountered on this cold January morning was tiny “Little Squirt” geyser. What it was lacking in size, it made up for in “spunk”! A fun little geyser to watch.
One of the bigger eruptions that occurred while I was there, Grotto Geyser put on a nice early morning show when temperatures were still very cold. It was fun watching the hot water shoot up into the 10-below air, and come falling back down as a puffy, steamy cloud. A fun eruption to watch, and one that continued for quite some time.
Another little feature, called “Ear Spring” — It’s not just the geothermal features themselves that are cool when you’re walking through the geyser basins. The beautifully colored bacterial mats that grow in the hot water can be truly spectacular. A beautiful little area of these were found right around Ear Spring.
This is one of the first videos I shot this morning, a panorama of the entire Upper Geyser basin, right as the sun was coming up. This one gives a great idea of the isolation, and the beauty, of winter in the area.
Finally, a video of the aptly named Firehole River that winds through the Upper Geyser Basin. There are numerous geothermal features right along the shores of the Firehole, with warm water keeping the river clear of ice all year round. The warm water in the river was certainly an attractant to wildlife, with Canada Geese, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye, Common Merganser, and Mallard all birds I saw while walking through the Upper Geyser Basin.
