Just Needs a Tune Up
Tag: Waikoloa
Out of Gas
Out of Gas
Geology of Waikoloa
While writing up my visit to Goat House Tube I was again wondering how old the lava tube was, it is clearly old, but how old?
Most of the Mauna Kea lava flows upon which Waikoloa sits are ten to twenty thousand years old, but the Mauna Loa flows that start just south of the village can be quite a bit younger.
Just a few miles south of the village one can find the 1859 Mauna Loa flow, the longest lava flow in the state representing a very long eruption that produced an enormous volume of lava. This is the flow that reshaped Kiholo bay, destroying the large fishponds that could once be found there.
Continue reading “Geology of Waikoloa”Goat House… Again
It has been a while since I last hiked out to Goat House Lava Tube. A bit obscure, the tube hides in the grasslands outside Waikoloa Village, accessible with a modest hike.
With the new eMTB this tube is even easier to get to. The power line access roads are rough, simple tracks just scraped into the lava, but fun. A good road to enjoy with a full suspension bike bouncing over the bare rock.
Continue reading “Goat House… Again”King’s Trail
Locked Gate
Taking a Walk
A long weekend? Cloudy enough to preclude a night with a telescope? May as well take a walk.
There are a few great hikes around the island, but often I just do not feel like driving very far. Thus I head out to Puʻuhinai again, one of my favorite local hikes just outside the village.
Recent rains have turned the landscape green and lush. Everywhere there are signs of flowing water, even along many of the old ranch roads, the downpours have been intense lately. The mauna have had snow all year so far, a reminder of a very wet winter rainy season.
Continue reading “Taking a Walk”A Hardware Store
A new shopping center here in Waikoloa is cause to celebrate. However… It is not the fancy new resturaunts, or the gym, or even the pizzarias I will be celebrating… It is a hardware store.
This week a new Ace Hardware opened its doors for the first time. Yes, I was there to check out the new store. Not having to take to 30-40 minute drive to Waimea or Kona when we need one little thing is a big deal for me.
I remember all too well need to make that drive on several occasions when something was busted in the house. There was the time I put a pickaxe through the water line supplying the house. I had the PVC pipe, and the glue needed to fix it, and one coupler… I needed two. I was short a single PVC coupling. Off on the hour long trip to Waimea and back for a single 50 cent part, that or no water in the house.
Stopping by our new Ace on their first morning I checked out the store, walking the aisles just to see what hey have, and do not have. Not that I left empty handed, I did buy a replacement garden hose for the driveway spigot.
The new store is a bit on the small side, not a huge selection of stuff. They do have all of the basics, a good selection of plumbing parts, screws and bolts, and electrical fittings. This will save a great deal of trouble in the future.
Mauna Loa Awakens
I am not certain what woke me up at one AM, but I was awake. Before going back to sleep I decided to check the satellite photos to see if I might get some telescope time before dawn. But what I found online had me totally awake and grabbing a couple batteries for the camera.
Mauna Loa has awoken.
I was soon driving out from the house to a point above the village with a clear view of the mauna. The whole southern sky an angry red over the village as I drove. I did not have to drive far, just a couple minutes from the house where you can find a clear view. Pulling off I set up the camera and shot.
I was not the only one out, half a dozen cars could be seen stopped along Waikoloa Road to view the eruption. The whole mauna is lit up red and it looks like the west flank is erupting, not just the caldera as Civil Defense currently insists. Just the clouds lit up on that side?
Life is intertesting.
Update: By dawn much of the caldera has flooded with lava. Scale is hard to see in the photos, you have to recall that the caldera is almost two miles across and three miles from end to end.
Update 9:11am: The eruption has already migrated to a series of fissures on the northeast flank. The typical Mauna Loa eruption script is a summit caldera eruption followed by a flank eruption a few days, or a few weeks later. We have just seen that happen in a few hours.
I am including a couple photos here taken by a co-worker as she commuted across the saddle this morning at dawn. You can already see the lava flows making their way into the saddle…
