Volcano! A Trip to the Mauna Loa Lava Flow

      Two days ago Sandra and I went to the volcano.  Until this week, that would have meant the long drive south to Na'alehu and a turn east to the Volcanoes National Park.  Kilauea, which erupted so spectacularly a few years ago, eventually devouring a large portion of real estate near Hilo.  Suddenly the volcano is Mauna Loa.  

    That giant hulk of a mountain, so big that it diverts hurricanes, erupted about five days ago, sending poison gas, ash and other volcanic debris into the air.  Within a few hours we had received several inquiries from our friends on the mainland wondering about our safety.  While the short answer is that currently we are quite safe, this may not be a frivolous question.  By that evening we had vog so thick that we could not see the horizon.  People with pulmonary disease were noticing a difference.

   By the next day, the TV people were showing pictures of the eruption and it was clearly time to take a trip.  We packed the car and headed to Mauna Loa.  If I was to step outside our home and point at Mauna Loa, I would point ESE, guessing that the summit was 40 miles or so from the tip of my finger.   For volcano viewing, however, we headed north, up Palani, to the junction of Hwy 200, the modern road that replaced the Saddle Road about 10 years ago.  Although the lava is issuing from a vent virtually on the summit, the lava is flowing down the north flank of Mauna Loa.  Hence, from the valley between the volcanoes you can see the flow.  From Kilauea, you can only see lave bursting from the vent on the summit. 

  When we first started coming to Hawaii, the Saddle Road was deemed so perilous that car rental agencies prohibited its patrons from driving it.  Now the Daniel Inouye Highway cuts the travel time between Kailua Kona and Hilo to less than 2 hours.

Hawai'is Inouye with JFK

   Daniel Inouye was a great American.  Growing up in a Japanese family in Honolulu, he served in an all Japanese regiment in World War II.  He lost an arm fighting in Italy and was awarded the Medal of Honor.  After the war, he went to George Washington Law and returned to Hawaii to rise in the territorial government.  Following statehood, he served in the United States Senate from 1962 until his death in 2010.  When it comes to naming public works and warships, his name is at the top of the list.

     We made the turn from the antiquated Mamalahoa Hwy onto the modern Hwy 200 around 3:30.  It took about twenty minutes to get to the Ka'ohe Wildlife Management Area.  This hunting preserve is a couple miles and a thousand vertical feet back up the old Saddle Road.  We have been there several times in the past  to watch threatened Hawaiian birds, most notably the Palila, the Hawaiian Parrotbill.  The refuge entrance constitutes a spectacular belvedere overlooking the long valley between the two massive volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  The gentleman whom we parked next to sized up as haoles (grossly unfair) and graciously informed us that we needed to drive further east to see the lava. So as he prepared to go out and kill something, we saddled up and headed east on Hwy 200.

    Our next stop was at the Mauna Kea State Recreation Area.  Here we find a modern parking lot and restrooms, an antique visitor center and a few cabins for rent.  We did not see any lava but did encounter a gentleman driving a Hawaiian Electric van.  He said he had just heard that the lava was five miles from the road and that we should continue driving east.

    In a few miles the road wound around a group of spectacular cinder cones and then suddenly there were cars parked on both sides of the road.  The mayor of Hawaii County, Mich Roth, had issued a proclamation the previous day: anyone parked on Hwy 200 for the purpose of lava-watching would be fined $1000.  We joined the legion of scoff laws and peered across the fence which kept sheep from wandering onto the road.  Like everyone else, we looked south towards Mauna Loa.  It took a moment to see a red glow on the side of the mountain.  Binoculars improved our view; we could see the leading edge of the lava and if one looked carefully he could see a web of lava streams leading down from the summit.  On the summit itself, we could see fountains of lava bubbling into the sky.  

Lava descends from the summit towards the Saddle Road.

    Noting that there were even more cars parked further down the road, we drove another half mile.  There in the vicinity of the Pu'u Huluhulu parking area. (one can only envision a Jeopardy! category dealing with six Us.)   Her in the middle of a field of pahoehoe, one was treated to a large gravel shoulder  We positioned the SUV for a quick escape, figuring that if the fuzz showed up, they would surely deal with the miscreants parked on the shoulder first.  From here we had a wonderful, if hazy, view of the lava making its relentless way into the valley.

    We made friends with the ladies parked next to us, shared our binoculars and after about 45 minutes decided to head home.  Lava viewing accomplished. Our cameras were not up to the task of capturing this distant view, and I'm providing you here a picture that shows approximately what we saw. 

   In a day or two the lava is predicted to cross the Inouye Hwy, cutting off an easy commute between Kona and Hilo for the foreseeable future.  The lava is not predicted to make it to Hilo, but I'm sure the geologists will tell us that nothing is certain.  

jeff

Addendum.  Having just downloaded the water camera, I found a picture that with some serious manipulation gives you a pretty good idea of what we saw.  As the eruption was evolving, this moment was a once in a lifetime experience. 

Mauna Loa Eruption

Look carefully to see the lava streams coming down the mountain.