Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

On our recent vacation to Hawaii, Heather arranged for a private tour of the Big Island. Our guide Paul met us at the ship dock and off we went to see among other things Volcanoes National Park.

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Paul was not only a good guy, he also knew how to take a photograph without getting all goofy with the camera. Amazing the number of people who can’t hold the camera still and point it in the right direction.

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Much of the park looks like the moon. There are lava flows everywhere. Some not that old. Amazing to me because this is what the birth of land looks like. Hawaii is certainly a land of contrasts from jungles to ultra arid areas like this, often not that far apart from each other.

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A little oddity when the lava overtakes trees, the tree cools the lava but eventually the tree burns away and leaves a hole in the lava.

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We went over to the Jagger Museum which overlooks Kilauea, a volcano that has been fairly active in recent months. It was steaming really good. You couldn’t see that much so we crowded into the museum to watch the webcame and some videos. Very spectacular stuff. You sure get a sense of a lot of power contained, barely within the earth. It was all very exciting to be around.

This is a video of the eruption of Kilauea in late April. Nothing too spectacular but it does give a sense of the energy involved.

This is a video from a few years ago showing lava from Kilauea entering the sea and making the Big Island of Hawaii just a little bigger. I love the dynamic of the hot lava entering the very violent sea. I’d love to see that live except I wouldn’t like bouncing around the ocean in a little boat.

Check out the USGS web cam for the Kilauea Volcano.

See some USGS videos and photographs here.

Check out the Volcanoes National Park Web Site here. Lots of interesting stuff here.

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And if you love our National Parks you are not alone. We love these parks and they are overwhelmed by our love. I’m not sure what to do about it but we need to invest in these parks so that others will be able to see them.

7 thoughts on “Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

  1. Beth

    awesome. we hope to get to Hawaii one day … i bet it just unbelievable gorgeous!! thanks for taking us along with your fam. hope to see many more pics from your trip. have a great day! ( :

  2. sylviakirk

    What a great, fun vacation indeed!! Thanks so much for sharing!! Your photos are the next best thing to being there myself!! Hope your week is going well!

  3. Gaelyn

    Great tour. I’ve never been that keen on going to Hawaii but would like to see the National Parks. It’s a quandary how to share the parks without massive overload.

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