We slept in a little today because our activities were close to the B&B. It was fully light when we awoke. It was beautiful outside. This is the best place we have stayed on this trip, so far. It is a rainforest outside our door.
Our first activity of the day was a hike around and through Kilauea Iki. It is a small volcano on the side of the big Kilauea caldera. It erupted last in 1959 and was a spectacular sight. We saw a film on the eruption at the visitor’s center. One of the most impressive was a video of the lava as it goes back into the magma chamber. It created a whirlpool, just like a toilet!
Our hike started with a walk around the crater rim. We descended down to the crater floor through some switchbacks and stairs. This was the easy part. Along the way, Kim had a book that described what we were seeing.
It was an abrupt change from the rainforest to the crater floor. The lava lake that was created during the 1959 eruption left a ledge of rock on the volcano walls. This was referred to as a “bathtub ring.” As we stepped off of the bathtub ring, we had to step across a region of broken lava. When the lava would flow back into the magma chamber, the solidified rock on top of the lava lake would drop and break. It would be like a lake in the winter that has an ice sheet on the top. If you were to empty out the water, the ice would crack and drop to the bottom of the lake. It was difficult to walk over this section.
Once we were out on the crater floor, the walking was easier. The solidified lava just laid on the bottom and cracked as it hit high spots. There was a trail that was easy to follow. Because so many people walk on the same path, it is worn into the lava rocks.
We could see smoke coming out from some holes on the crater floor. Rainwater seeps through the cracks and gets close to the magma below. It is heated and turns to steam. On area the book talked about is where they would drill to see how deep the rock was above the lava lake. It was not until 1988 that the lava below the crater floor was fully solidified.
The hike back up to the crater rim was not as easy as the hike down. There were many switchbacks to get us back to the top. It was a difficult climb. I was ready for the AC of the car as we drove to the visitor’s center.
We met our guides for the Pua Po‘o Lava Tube Hike. It is a special tour run by the park. The lava tube is hidden on the property and is in its natural state. The park wants to show it to the public, but it also wants to protect the tube from being destroyed. The Thurston Lava Tube is accessible by all and has a walkway through it. Over the years, it has been affected by the volume of people walking through it. Each week twelve lucky people get the chance to tour this cave. You have to call one week in advance and it fills very quickly. Kim called last week while I was up in the air getting my flying lesson. We were numbers ten and eleven. In fact, one of the couples was twelve and thirteen. His wife was on the alternate list. Luckily one person canceled, so she got to go. I wonder if he would have gone without her, if there was no cancelation.
We met our guides. The main guide has been doing this tour for thirteen years. He is a native Hawaiian and really explained the native culture and beliefs. It was very interesting to hear about how they felt about entering a lava tube. In the past, the chiefs and tribal elders would be buried in the lava tubes. With each new tube discovered, a cultural archeologist must enter and determine if there is a burial. Most Hawaiians do not want to enter, because they do not want to disturb the bones of the past.
On the walk to the lava tube, he talked about the eruptions and told some Hawaiian stories about the goddess Pele. As it turns out, some of the stories can be linked to an eruption in the 1400’s or 1500’s. In fact, the lava tube is from that eruption. It has been undisturbed until it was found in the 1970’s. The only evidence of humans, was some candle wax and a candy wrapper. The lava tube has only been open for fifteen years.
We had to put on a hard hat with a light. We looked line miners! We also had to wear gloves, in case we touched the walls.
To enter the lava tube, we had to descend an old aluminum ladder to the tube floor. We were entering through a “skylight.” A skylight is made when a small section of a tube roof collapses. It was rocky at the entrance, but we quickly came to the flat bottom. Our guide said that there was at least six different lava flows in this tube. He pointed out some bacteria on the wall. This is the main reason this cave is to be protected.
At one point he had us sit and turn out our flashlights. He told us about some of the customs of the early Hawaiians. He then told us about the dinner plate sized spiders that inhabit this tube. Once a few people gasped, he told us he was kidding. There spiders in the cave, but they are smaller than a flea. We found one on the wall on our way out.
We had a bit of a hike to get back to our car. Between the earlier hike and this one, Kim estimated that we walked about eight miles. We had not eaten since breakfast, so we went out for a big dinner.
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