Apparently this area has difficulty with vandalism, and all the interpretive signs were long gone. From what I find on the net, however, prior to 1870 this was a lush 'Ōhi'a forest, 'Ōhi'a being a tree with beautiful red flowers (more about them in the next album). In 1870, the trees were cold and wet from recent rains. Rapidly-flowing lava swamped this area and pooled to 11 feet deep. Because the trees were so cold and wet, they cooled the lava which contacted them (although the lava also reduced the trees to ashes). Then suddenly fissures opened and, as rapidly as it came, the apparently very non-viscous lava drained away, leaving only the towers of relatively cooled lava which had formed surrounding the (previously cold and wet) trees.

lavacastforest