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| Hiking | 4.00 Miles |
460 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.00 Miles | | | |
| 460 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | We've been in Hawaii this past week. We snorkeled with Manta Rays, kayaked with dolphins, and hung out with some endangered sea turtles on a black sand beach. Even with all of those activities we still had to hike!
The day before we did a short introduction to Volcano National Park. We were so excited we had to do a more in depth investigation. The Kilauea Iki Trail is known as one of the best hikes in the park so off we went.
We started at the Thurston Lava Tube trailhead and then made our way to the actual Kilauea Iki trailhead via a rainforest trail. As we walked we paused at each of the trail stops to read the information from our trail guide. If you go, I definitely recommend getting the trail guide as you will learn a lot about volcanoes if you do.
Finally we started down into the crater. We could see a bathtub ring (lava subsidence terrace) which showed how high the lava lake had come up during it's time. From there we followed Ahu (cairns) that marked the trail across the crater floor.
The last major eruption at Kilauea Iki was in 1959. Even though that event was a long time ago for us humans, it was a recent event geologically and there is a lot to learn from it.
We stopped near the main vent which is at the base of a cinder cone called Pu'u Pua'i. The vent built Pu'u Pua'i by spewing cinder and spatter. The cinder cone is very colorful because of the hot gases oxidizing the iron rich minerals in the lava.
As we walked on the solid lava lake it was hard to believe that the lake itself is 440 feet deep. We found drill holes from when the scientists were measuring. We also discovered that in places the ground was still hot, as rain went into the cracks it emerged shortly in the form of steam.
After we climbed out of the crater we visited Thurston Lava Tube. A lava tube occurs when lava is flowing and the outside layer hardens while the inside is still a flowing liquid. The liquid drains out and we're left with a tube in the earth.
That night we went to observe the glow from the 520 ft wide active vent in Halema?uma?u Crater that is emitting a gas and steam plume. After having spent the morning in Kilaueua Iki it gave us a whole new appreciation to volcanic activity. |
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