We really wanted to see an eruption.
The ongoing eruption of Kilauea has been an off and on affair, starting and stopping every few days since this eruptive sequence started just before Christmas. The last few cycles had been more off than on, going several days or a week with no lava visible. While the lava fountains have been short lived, just 13 to 20 hours.
To be sure I was not totally without, I had made the run across island on Jan 16th to see episode 4 of the current eruption, but my parents had not witnessed lava for many years, their annual winter visits not overlapping with an eruption.
This visit would be a long planned visit with my parents, two nights booked at Kilauea Military Camp as the last part of their two-week winter vacation to the island. The booking had been made in late October, long before the this latest eruptive sequence started. Rather serendipitous timing indeed.
We knew an eruption was imminent, the tiltmeters indicated building pressure within the magma chamber below the caldera, it was just a matter of time. But it could so easily happen after we left the park. With the two nights at KMC, right on the caldera rim, we were perfectly placed to witness the eruption. Would it be the perfect time?
Thus a routine began, checking the tiltmeter data and camera feeds every opportunity. Going to bed… Check the volcano status. Waking up in the middle of the night? Check again.
We had one full day in the park. As an eruption had not appeared we planned a day exploring along Chain of Craters Road, visiting a part of the park we had not seen in many years.
The morning was pleasant, early showers giving way to blue skies with hardly a cloud. A visit to Hōlei Sea Arch was followed by a stop at the petroglyphs. There we had picked up a hiker who needed a ride to another trailhead and his vehicle. Driving up the Pali I noted that one cloud had appeared, right over the caldera. Our hitchhiker quickly pulled up the USGS live camera feed on his phone… We had an eruption!!
Quickly depositing our guest at his truck we hurried to the rim, there we found a spectacular sight, a lava fountain nearly as high as the 500ft cliff behind it.
Everyone else had the same plan, of course. The traffic was rapidly thickening and just an hour into the eruption every viewpoint parking lot was filled to overflowing. Fortunately I knew of some well positioned viewpoints that were less known and within an easy walk of our little cottage at the military camp, it was these that we used for eruption viewing and photography.
While the eruption was just starting the high gas pressure created a fountain that at times overtopped the 500ft cliff behind the vent, easily the highest fountain I had yet seen in all my volcano viewing over the years. In binoculars I watched long-tailed tropicbirds circling the erupting vents wondering yet again why they approched the lava so closely.
The crowds would remain well into the evenng. a steady flow of folks hiking along the caldera rim trail. The viewpoints I liked were known to other hardcore lava junkies and professional photographers.
During an evening photo shoot I found myself among photo rigs that made my somewhat decent camera gear look downright inadequate. I guess someone who makes a living photographing the volcano might have a need for a telephoto lens that costs more than a car.
Using the rented cottage at KMC it was easy to rest, eat, and head back out for more viewing. There was an afternoon photo session. Then a there was a sunset viewing session, the northern vent was no longer fountaining as high, while the southern vent had added its fount to the show. Streams of lava poured out from the based of the vents flooding the caldera floor.
A late evening session allowed long exposure shots as the SD cards filled. Most of the casual visitors and tourists had vanished leaving the hardcore lava junkies. The flooded crater floor had formed into two large perched ponds with multiple bright red lava falls outlining the pond rims.
A predawn session was cut short by fog and misting rain, the eruption disappearing to be replaced with a bright red glow in the gloom. Still, for the short time before the fog I had the viewpoint to myself, watching the spectacle in solitude with just the distant roar of gas escaping the vent.
A sunrise session was simply glorious. My mother and I enjoying the changing light as the rising Sun lit the plume over a dark caldera lit by the bright red glow of lava fountains.
It was while sitting down for breakfast that we got the final surprise of the trip. Upon opening my iPad I found the last page I had visited, which was of course the live feed of the eruption that had been so regularly checked over the past few days. A feed showing no lava fountain, no eruption in progress. Episode 9 of the eruption had stopped during the few minutes of walking back from the rim and pouring a bowl of cereal.
From beginning to end.
Share this:
