Friday, June 29, 2012

The Glow from Halema'uma'u Crater

We headed back to the park tonight for the crater show. We could see the glow as soon as we approached the parking lot at the Jaggar Museum. The glow from the lava reflects up in the steam. We were happy we could see it despite the drizzle.

A ranger was still there so we were able to get some of our questions answered about sights we saw along the Chain of Craters Rd. The blue cast to the lava we saw at the end is from titanium. The asphalt on the roads is made from lava which is why Hawaii bears the dubious distinction of the state where car tires wear out the fastest. The flows we saw coming down the hillside were from the 1969 - 1974 eruption of the Mauna Ulu lava shield. There are no plans to rebuild the Chain of Craters Rd until Pu'u O'o crater is no longer active (which it has been since the early 80's). Okay--so now you are all ready for any Hawaiian volcano trivia thrown your way!

We are still on the hunt for the nene which is the Hawaiian goose and state bird. Despite the many nene crossing signs, we have yet to see any.

Tomorrow we leave Volcano and will end up in Kailua Kona on the west coast--where we hope to find sunshine!

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