Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea Volcano at Night

Hawai'i (the Big Island) is the youngest island in the Hawaiian chain of islands.  It has the largest volcano in the world (last eruption in 1984) and the most active volcano in existence (Mauna Loa and Kilauea, respectively) so we decided to take a night tour of the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (see map below). 

The main attraction of the night tour is to get above, and as close to, Kilauea as possible in order to see the incredible lava pool in its crater.  Our driver/guide on the tour was a young guy named Derek who hailed from Wisconsin and was a self-confessed "volcano geek."  He was a fount of information on everything from board surfing and endemic flora to pyroclastic density currents and Portugese donuts.

We started out from our hotel at 12.15PM and were returned there at 12.30AM the next day soaking wet and somewhat muddy.  There were 12 people on the tour who were from places like Nebraska, Ohio and Louisiana but nobody else from the "East" as they called our part of the country.  

Derek gave us the lowdown on all the local beaches and best surfing as we headed south along the Mamalahoa Highway and pointed out the best "local" eating and coffee places which all looked a bit sketchy but had great views of the ocean.  As we got further South, he related a long story about Captain Cook and his voyages of discovery and managed to relate his sad end just as we passed by Kealakekua Bay where the good Captain had made his first landing in Hawai'i and was killed there some months later. 

We entered the National Park about 4PM and headed for the Visitor Center.  This was the best place to see Kilauea's caldera during the day.  You can see it above with smoke rising and steam coming out of various fissures around the caldera.  The whole crater is vast and, importantly for our coming night walk, filled with molten lava waiting to break out or disappear down a network of lava tubes. The latter was what happened in 2018 when the lava in the crater (almost 1600 feet of it) disappeared from the crater and flowed down to the sea underground.  On the way to the sea it passed beneath the Leilani Estates which had to be evacuated as the whole place turned into a nightmare scene of molten lava coming up under houses and splitting roads apart.  The video we saw was more like a disaster movie than an actual happening.  Unbelievable scenes and a miracle that nobody got killed.

Our little group warms up around a steam vent.  That's Derek on the left.

Let's jump ahead to the night walk.  After going to Volcano Village for an excellent two hour dinner with altogether too many dry martinis and mojitos (that's another story!), we headed uphill in our 15-seater van.  By now it was dark and raining hard.  About twenty minutes later we arrived at the jump-off point.  We were instructed to try to stay together and were given huge umbrellas, rain gear and flashlights which were really powerful.  We set off into the night and for a while were on pavement but soon turned off into the trees along a well-worn path.  It was pitch black and there were a lot of umbrellas bumping into each other, flashlights being beamed ahead, up into the sky and now and again into your eyes as someone sought their lost partner.  We had about 1.4 miles to cover but it seemed to go quite quickly with a lot a chatter and getting mixed up with other groups who were also stumbling along.  

The photo below is not mine but it does show the full extent of Kilauea's "lava pool," one of the biggest and most dangerous "hot spots" on Earth.  This was evidently taken from a helicopter and I found it on Pinterest.

We all got to a point where we had to turn right and then walk along a very muddy and rocky path.  After about 10 minutes it was not so dark and then you could see in the distance a huge red sky.  We were now very close to the lookout point and you no longer needed flashlights--Kilauea was lighting the way!

When we got to the lookout point, we could clearly see the red lava 

in the distance and the yellow patches around the edges.  

I took the photo below with a telephoto on my old Panasonic Lumix camera.  Given the rain, the haze and the general jostling at the lookout it was a miracle that anything came out.  In this photo you can see the red haze that was lighting up the night sky.  The lava turns red at temperatures above 525 degrees Fahrenheit and then turns orange and YELLOW at much higher temperatures. You can see yellow areas in the photo below.  That means it is at temperatures between 1,832–2,192 degrees Fahrenheit!  We all stood there in awe--not many people will ever see a sight like this and certainly won't get such close access without going up in flames. You have to give it to the National Park system.  They get you to all the best sights in America!

We all made our way back to the van without incident.  Derek had to stay with some folks who were slow walkers but everyone who was on the tour did "the night walk" as it became known. This included old guys like me, a rather large lady who said she was "not going to miss the show" but walked slowly there and back and her seven year-old kid.  Apart for one woman who never stopped jabbering about the rain and the dark and the cold and how muddy it was and how she couldn't find her friend etc., everyone just got on with it and I think we were all a bit amazed that we had made it there and back.

But that was not the end of our night out.  Derek had mentioned that we might want to see the Thurston Lava Tube.  I don't think a vote was taken on it but we found ourselves driving further into the night to find this old lava tube that Derek assured us was no longer carrying lava anywhere.  So, those who wanted to see a lava tube followed Derek along another dark road until we walked down some rocky steps and descended into what looked like a Metro tunnel that was still being hacked out of the earth.  Above is our little group, including the seven year old kid and his Dad.   There were yellow lights along the side of the tube which gave the whole place a weird vibe.  

I don't know how far we walked but I flashed away with my camera and think this shows the tube as it gets narrower and narrower. I don't like to be underground and was quite relieved when I saw Derek start to climb up some stairs and lo and behold we came out into the  forest again. And it was still raining!

So, that was a very full day.  As I mentioned earlier we got back to our hotel about 12.30AM after driving up through Hilo and getting onto the Daniel K. Inouye Highway which cuts across the center of the Big Island and speeds up cross-island travel.  

Kilauea at Night

One interesting fact which later came to our attention was that a whole genre of "volcano painting" sprang up in the 19th century when people began to take a greater interest in volcanoes and their modern eruptions.  The painting above was by a French artist, Jules Tavernier, who set up his canvas right next to the Kilauea caldera and started painting.  A brave man--and a great painting which can be found at the Isaacs Art Center in Waimea.  

That Arts Center will be the subject of the next blog!