Here in the Islands, we don’t get “goose bumps” when we experience strong emotions about something. We get “chicken skin.” Want to get some totally Hawaiian-style chicken skin? Go to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and watch hula performed on a stone and earth mound surrounded by native forest, while behind you a volcanic crater sends […]
All of us who love trekking Maui’s most amazing crater are suddenly happy campers. Haleakala National Park has done away with the lottery system for cabin rentals within the mountain’s crater. Why is this such good news? Hiking and camping Mount Haleakala’s mountaintop “crater”—actually a massive “erosional depression”—is one of the top three or four
Before letting the Fourth of July go until next year, we couldn’t resist sharing a report from our man on the slopes of Kilauea volcano, Bill Harby, on Independence Day celebrations at Volcano Village this weekend. The 4th of July in Volcano Village is always a Hawaii-style hootenanny. The main events are an annual parade
On Friday—the summer solstice—the sun will set on the southeast corner of the newly restored Hapaialii heiau on Hawaii’s Big Island. Billy Fields is sure. He wasn’t so sure last December 21—the winter solstice. That day, Billy Fields sat gazing nervously at the heiau, originally built in the 1400s, possibly as a place to honor
Our man at Kilauea volcano, Bill Harby, just reported in. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, closed for two days, just reopened this afternoon at 1 p.m. Even though the tradewinds that usually clear the air have not returned, the sulfur dioxide fumes from Halemaumau and Pu’u O’o have diminished enough to make it safe for visitors.
Our friend, Big Island writer Bill Harby, wrote us this morning with a report on vog conditions at his home in Volcano Village near Kilauea’s summit. Wow, in a matter of minutes the air and skies in my neighborhood went from crystal clear to vog fear. This is what my backyard looked like yesterday afternoon.
The last few days—while eyes have been on the shifting plume of steam and toxic gas at the 4,000-foot summit of Kilauea volcano—the fire goddess Pele has been creating the world’s newest beach an hour’s drive away. On Wednesday, I headed from my home near the summit to the end of Highway 130 to watch the
Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park got an exciting surprise this morning: The road to the best viewing spot for the historic eruption at the summit of Kilauea volcano was again open. The public is once again permitted to drive Crater Rim Drive to the Kilauea crater rim overlook at Thomas A. Jaggar Museum. From
We always knew Hawaii volcanoes were unprecedented. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists have been analyzing the steam and gas plume that’s been gushing from Halemaumau crater at the summit of Kilauea since March 11th. They’ve found something they didn’t expect: the H2O in their test tubes is not from ground water. It’s been released from the
On Sunday night, “small incandescent particles” shot out of the 100-foot-wide vent at Halemaumau crater on the summit of Kilauea volcano, according to scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Geologists found “Pele’s hair” (thin strands of solidified lava) and “Pele’s tears” (droplets of lava rock) above the rim of Halemaumau this morning, indicating that molten
It’s official. The summit of Kilauea Volcano has erupted, says chief scientist Jim Kauahikaua at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. This is the first explosion in the crater since 1924, and the first eruption of any kind there since 1982. On Tues. at 2:58 a.m., a small gas explosion in the wall of Halemaumau crater, sent small
I’ve stood at the edge of the huge crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island many times over the last 28 years, but I’ve never seen anything like what I saw yesterday and last night. Halemaumau Crater has long been rather placid, with only various small vents of steam and gas
