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  4. HAWAII, 2012

JAN / FEB 2012: HILO, HAWAII

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Kaimu. Until 1990, this area was a spectacular black sand beach. A series of eruptions from 1990 - 1992 covered the beach with 20 feet of lava. Not so soft to lay back and sunbathe on, but totally spectacular, too!<br /> <br /> If you are curious about where some of these things may be, click on "Map This" above!
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Kaimu. Until 1990, this area was a spectacular black sand beach. A series of eruptions from 1990 - 1992 covered the beach with 20 feet of lava. Not so soft to lay back and sunbathe on, but totally spectacular, too!

If you are curious about where some of these things may be, click on "Map This" above!

stepcrack

  • Kaimu. Until 1990, this area was a spectacular black sand beach. A series of eruptions from 1990 - 1992 covered the beach with 20 feet of lava. Not so soft to lay back and sunbathe on, but totally spectacular, too!<br /> <br /> If you are curious about where some of these things may be, click on "Map This" above!
  • Steve in the distance. A crevasse in the hard lava. Can you imagine this flowing along, with the top crust cooling due to exposure to the air, while the lower levels continue to flow? The upper crust then became brittle and fractured into large plates while continuing toward the water (which is on the other side of Steve here).
  • Also, in some places as the surface became more and more viscous, it ended up slowing the flow while the lava behind it kept pushing it forward, resulting in these amazing braided-circle-type formations. At first glance, it looks almost like a huge roll of large cable.
  • On down the road at MacKenzie State Park, a great place to watch the waves crash onto the cliffs below.
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  • And now our titanic trio is headed to the hot spring at Ahalanui Park.
  • Ahalanui Park Hot Spring is a natural hot spring with man-made trimmings (sidewalk, stairs, a dyke separating it from the ocean, etc.). The water is volcanically-heated to about 90 degrees. However, if you find that too hot, you can go to the other end, where waves sometimes enter from the ocean to cool it off a bit. You can see Bev, the closest person in the water. Marsha and Steve are in the water someplace. Can you spot my parents? (It may help to bring the photo up to larger size by sliding your cursor over the photo and then clicking "Original" on the pop-up menu)
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  • THERE they are!
  • This panorama encompasses a bit more than 180 degrees. You can bring it up to full size by hovering your cursor over the photo and clicking on "Original."
  • LAVA TREE STATE PARK.<br /> <br /> Consider a dense Ohia-lehua forest in 1790. The tall, stately trees (In Hawaiian mythology Ohia trees embody a very athletic and handsome young chief) laden with beautiful red blooms (Ohia blooms are called Lehua, after one of the most beautiful women in Hawaiian mythology). Birds fly among the branches while lizards and other small critters roam among the tree trunks and along the ground of the forest floor. All the sudden extremely hot and rapidly flowing lava inundates the forest and fills this large depression. The lava which contacts the trees cools just enough to harden. Even with this relative cooling, the lava still basically vaporizes the trees. Then a large escape hole opens (apparently a flap covering an old lava tube must have been melted by the heat) and allows the lava to drain away, emptying the area except for the hardened casts of the now vanished trees.
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  • Spectacular canopy of the current forest, apparently springing up AFTER 1790.
  • Rainbow Falls (inside the city limits of Hilo).
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