Flowing Lava

This is a triumphant shot for both Jenny and I. It took two attempts and over nine hours to make this happen. Our first attempt started in Volcano National Park.

We drove to within a half mile of the lava fields and hiked. Ahead of us was four miles of hiking over nothing but cooled lava. It was black, hot, sharp, and void of vegetation and shade. After hiking toward the plume of smoke given off by the cooling lava for four hours we had to turn back as the gases were starting to affect our breathing. We then hiked back for another four hours skeptical of our safe return.

The last day that we were supposed to be in Hawaii we decided to take one more stab at finding flowing lava. We had heard through word of mouth that there was a secret way to get there. Out of respect of the locals I will not divulge that here. Sure enough after thirty minutes of hiking we came across this flow.

While it may not look like the flows that hit the news two weeks after we left it was still an amazing experience to see land being created in front of you. In case you were wondering, you can only get within ten feet or so of the lava because the heat is so unbearable.