New reality in Lower Puna, May 8, 2018

It has been several days now since the first fissure opened up in Leilani Estates. Since then ten fissures have started spew lava, lava bombs, and sulfur dioxide. Houses burned down by the lava, people had to evacuate last minute and are now living in shelters or with friends.
The air quality was really awful the last few days and on top of that Kilauea caldera started to have explosive events with spewing ash into the air.
We still have hundreds of earthquakes every day but most of them are on the smaller side between 3.3 and 4.6.
Since so many people are displaced and need literally everything, Ikaika Marzo, co-owner of Kalapana Cultural Tours, started to set up a donation hub and information center at the corner of Highway 132 and Highway 130. And since I didn't have a job as a lava tour guide at the moment, I decided to volunteer.

Pu'uhonua o Puna, or simply THE HUB is an amazing place with wonderful people. They provide meals three times a day, food, clothing, toiletries, information. All is volunteer work and people are grateful to have this opportunity.

Plume from Leilani eruption as seen from THE HUB parking lot

A lot of goods like water, dog, and cat food, clothing, tents, tarps were donated and then sorted by volunteers and handed out. TV stations interviewed people, geologists provided information. It was a wonderful way to see the Puna community come together as a big ohana to help.

Ikaika Marzo with Governor Ige

I also met the governor

it's busy at THE HUB

Such an amazing community. When it started to pour one day and we needed more tarps, we send out help messages for tarp donations. A bit later dozens of tarps showed up and we could secure the tents and all the donations.

Each time when it was time to eat, everyone gathered, volunteers and Punatics who came for help, and we would hold hands and say a pule (prayer). 

News Coverage of THE HUB

The Big Quake, May 4, 2018

We had small earthquakes the entire night. Continuous shaking, vibrating, rattling. Some were really small, some bigger. The shaking woke me up a few times that night. It was pretty annoying.
I guess this is what happens when you live in a volcanically active zone and lava intrusion is causing the rocks to breaks and creating all these earthquakes.
While having a late breakfast and checking updates of the volcano on my computer, an earthquake occurred. It was quite big and my first thought was that it was more than a 5.0.
Pretty crazy.
Soon enough USGS confirmed it as a 5.4.
My house is on post and pier, so it shook quite a bit.
An hour later we had another earthquake, this time it was way different. It was violent. It didn't come in waves. This was a real seismic quake. I had to hold on my table, everything was shaking violently without stopping. Pictures fell down the wall, cups from my counter. It went on and on and felt as if it was lasting for at least 25 seconds.
It was crazy. I lost power and when it was over the first thought I had was "wow!!! I guess this was the biggest earthquake I ever experienced!!"
I went outside and walked around the house, checking for damages. The water in my catchment tank was sloshing back and forth for at least 20 minutes.
Power was out for at least 1.5 hours, it was hard to get any information about what happened as cell service was also almost non-existent.
After a while, I learned it was a 6.9 earthquake that shook the entire Big Island of Hawai'i and even caused a little bit of damage in Hilo.
It was unbelievable. It was the first time I ever had experienced such a big earthquake. Hundreds of small quakes followed today and in the next few days, we experienced some several thousand earthquakes between 2.5 and 5.0. The good thing about it, after a while you get used to the continuous shaking and only react when the jolts are bigger than a 4.0, lol.

Source: USGS Volcanoes earthquakes May 1-4, 2018

Everything changed: crater collapse and fissure eruption in a residential area: May 3 2018

I knew something was happening soon with our beloved Puna district soon. The volcano was acting weird, with the crater collapse of Pu'u O'o on April 30 and a massive earthquake swarm moving down the East Rift Zone. Lava was on the move and it was moving to the Lower East Rift Zone. If there would be a new active breakout down there it would mean all of Lower Puna could be in jeopardy. And the lava lake in Halema'uma'u crater was dropping like crazy. In Leilani Estates in the Lower East Rift Zone cracks had appeared in the roads and were widening, the smell of sulfur was there plus steam coming out of the cracks. Not a good sign at all.
My friend Janice and I decided to visit Lower Puna this morning and enjoy all of our beloved places like Poho'iki and Ahalanui Warm Ponds. We had no clue what would happen today.
We were a bit late for sunrise because Pohoiki Road was closed but finally managed to get there just in time.
The sky lit up like crazy, blood red and extremely intense. It was almost unreal.

We were super excited and enjoyed the view. The sun was up quickly and the light was gone. We went a bit to Pohoiki boat ramp and I ventured off a bit to the hot pond. Such a great spot to soak in and relax.

We also stopped at a few other spots along the Red Road. This stretch of road here in Puna is so amazing with all its tree tunnels and secret spots. Just like paradise.

A bit later we went to visit Janice's property in Kalapana Gardens. Since the crater collapse of Pu'u O'o a few days ago almost everything down there was shut down and local traffic only. I missed my old days of hiking out to the lava from here. We checked the property and also talked a bit to one of the neighbors who barely finished building their house.
All of a sudden we had a pretty good sized earthquake. I reminded me of the one I experienced last year out on the lava field. Less than a few minutes later a huge pink ash cloud was rising into the sky.
It was just wow!!!
I just used my iPhone to record a few video clips. They went viral later that day and were in the news all over the world.

I guess it was my enthusiastic Wow, lol. Definitely pretty exciting and the pink ash cloud was really awesome to see. A few smaller earthquakes followed a bit later.
I was barely at home later that day when I heard the news that lava was erupting in Leinani Estates. A fissure had opened in the middle of a residential area on Mohala St, triggering evacuations. Hard to believe that it was really happening. It was a crazy day and no one knew how long the eruption would last.

Welcome to Mars - in search of Pele's Hair

Welcome to Mars –in search for Pele’s Hair, April 2018

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is a really diverse place. Not only are there massive lava flows from several dates and eruptive events, or lush rainforests that let you feel like you’re in a scene of Jurassic Park, there are also deserts.

Yes, there are deserts on the Big Island of Hawai’i. And these deserts have sand and little to no rainfall. The rain shadow of the big mountains Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea creates a very unique climate harsh and dry and so completely out of place. The Ka’u desert of Volcanoes NP is a very unique place to explore. Old lava flows with a reddish color due to the iron content plus cinder cones and volcanic ash and sand create a very hostile climate.

Why would someone want to go there?

Of course, there is something else that makes this place very interesting. Because the place is downwind of Halema’uma’u crater, it receives a lot of the stuff blown out of the crater. One of these special items is Pele’s hair, golden elongated strands of volcanic glass that look like hair. One of the coolest things you can ever see.

Throughout the last few years, a vast area of the Ka’u desert got covered by this volcanic glass, sometimes covering miles of it and let it shimmer golden in the right light conditions. I visited the place a few times and was always blown away by it.

Today I decided it was time for a spontaneous visit again. Little did I know that exactly one week later the park would close its doors indefinitely due to volcanic eruptions.

I went to the park later in the morning and headed to the Mauna Iki trailhead in the Ka’u desert along Hilina Pali road. The trailhead was next to the campground and despite the pretty nice weather I was the only car parked there. I quickly grabbed my backpack and camera and started the hike. At the beginning there was some vegetation sparsely spread out within the area, obviously not affected by the VOG and with a bit more rain.

I followed the trail, passing some dead Ohia trees. They would make a nice foreground for night photography.

Soon the trail became more barren, lots of sand and small shrubs were dominating the landscape. Unfortunately, there were also a lot more clouds moving in. In the past few weeks it was pretty hard to find a day with a lot of sunshine. But I still hoped for a few windows of sun, so I could take the images I was after.

The first few patches of Pele’s hair appeared after the first 1.5 miles, but they were pretty spotty and not were long.

After about 2 miles I reached a cliff. From here I had to walk down a sand dune and down to the bottom of a landscape that truly resembled a Mars-like landscape. Red sand, hostile, barely any vegetation left. This went on and on for miles.

And now I reached the Pele’s hair I was looking for. Patches of gold and yellow covered huge areas. The wind had blown it into crevices, around rocks, small shrubs. It was literally everywhere.

I picked up a few pieces and some strands were at least 2-3 feet long. It was pretty cool and since my last visit the amount of Pele’s hair had almost doubled.

I continued to the Two Pit Craters, some really deep old Pit Craters. Often you can see White Tropic Birds who nest along the crater walls. But there was not a single one here today.

I walked around the pit craters and glimpsed into the gaping hole. Pretty impressive for sure.

I continued past the craters and encountered more Pele’s hair. It was literally everywhere.

I walked around another Pit crater and scrambled to the top. I had to be a bit careful, the loose cinder and rubble could easily trigger a fall.

It was for sure a great day of exploration. After a quick break, I turned around and hiked back. It was already pretty late and I couldn’t do the entire trail today. The closer I came back to the cliff the nicer the weather was. 

It seemed the cliff was the separation line for VOG- driven weather and nicer conditions. The hike out I had nice sunshine and made it back to the car about 30 minutes before sunset.

A long day hike in Hawai'i Volcanoes NP, March 28

I love being on the move. For that reason, hiking is the most natural thing for me and I can keep going forever. My job as a lava tour guide luckily involves a lot of hiking and I often end up an average of 6-13 miles several times a week. Once in a while, we do have a pretty slow week. This usually happens when lava is not easily accessible or when other factors determine a less active week. When this happens, I still get out and explore, just to stay in shape. It also offers a lot of opportunities to explore parts of Hawai’i Island and Volcanoes NP that do not necessarily involve lava.

Today I had a day off again and I decided I wanted to do some hikes in Hawai’i Volcanoes NP. Many of the day hikes are pretty short and barely longer than 5 or 6 miles. While sitting over my national geographic map of the park to determine where I wanted to go today I found a nice but pretty long hike that combined several of the shorter hikes into an amazing day on the trail.

I wasn’t sure how many miles I would end up with, but I guessed it would be somewhere between 15 -20 miles.

I started pretty late due to some work-related issues. We had a big group tomorrow and couldn’t get all the guides we needed. Anyway, at one point my boss resolved the issue and I drove the 22 miles up the mountain to the park.

It was a pleasant day, sunny, but pretty hazy with a lot of volcanic VOG due to the shift of wind direction. I parked at the Jaggar Museum on the Crater Rim and got my stuff ready. I decided that I only wanted to bring my little Sony A6000 camera today. This little camera is a real gem and the pictures it creates are pretty decent.

It was about 12:30 pm when I started my hike. Right next to the parking lot a paved trail started next to the HVO (Hawaiian Volcanic Observatory) and I followed it along the Crater Rim. Several spots allowed pretty nice views into Halema’uma’u Crater, a crater within Kilauea Crater. It was also the home of the world’s largest lava lake and its average size right now was about the size of the New Orleans Superdome. During the day you can barely see anything, but after dark, the lava lake will start to glow. And if the lake level is high enough you can see the lava spatter tossed in the air about 7 stories high.





I followed the Rim Trail and enjoyed the views of the impressive Kilauea Caldera. After a while, I passed the area of Steam Vents, where several fumaroles released magmatic water vapor. It all then condensed into clouds and mist. It was always a pretty cool sight, especially when some of the trees were covered in the steam and the entire scene created an eerie landscape.



Shortly after the steam vents, I turned onto the Iliahi Trail, a short trail that went through some of the finest rainforests here on the Crater Rim, before dropping down the bottom of Kilauea Caldera. Iliahi is the Hawaiian name for Sandalwood and obviously, a lot of the tropical trees grew here along the trail. The vegetation was getting thicker, with many Ohia and Koa trees as well as a lot of tree ferns.

 

I followed the trail for about half a mile and then turned onto the Halemaumau trail which would drop to the bottom of the crater pretty soon. But before that, the trail went through a beautiful part of the wet rainforest. I really felt like I was placed into a scene of Jurassic Park.



 
Hapu'u Tree Fern along the trail



Back in these days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth it must have looked like that with all the impressive tree ferns of the Mesozoic area. And nowadays it still looked pretty prehistoric in some spots.



I really liked that part of the rainforest a lot. There was so much to see and to explore. I stopped a few times for pictures before I continued.



Moss covered boulders, some stairs, all in here in that lush and green forest.
The trail descended to the crater bottom and all of the sudden it was a whole different world.



I stepped out of the forest and on to the lava covered floor of Kilauea Volcano. In the distance, I could see the steam plume of Halema’uma’u Crater in one direction, as well as the massive flank of Mauna Loa volcano. Several small Ohia trees grew on the bottom and their distinct bright red Lehua flowers were hard to miss.


Ohia Lehua

I really love the flowers and when you shake them out in your hand you can lick the sweet nectar. The trail followed the crater bottom for a few hundred feet and then climbed back up to the rainforest. I followed it for a while until I came to the intersection with Kilauea Iki trail. 



I left the rainforest again and descended down to the bottom of the former lava lake. Kilauea Iki erupted in 1959 and its bottom was filled with bubbling lava. Fountains of lava shot almost 1800ft. high in the air and created the Pu’u Pua’i cinder cone. The lava lake eventually solidified and I walked across the bottom on black slabs of lava which was the original lava lake back in these days. Even though it is almost 60 years since the lava lake was hot and active, it still has a lot of steam rising up from cracks after some good sized rain falls.


Pu'u Puai


Kilauea Iki Trail

After I crossed the lake I climbed back to the rainforest and to the crater rim. The trail followed quite a few switchbacks up to the rim and I gained again a lot of elevation.The sun was out and it was pretty warm. I was actually pretty happy to be up at the crater rim after a while.
The Kilauea Iki trail ended at the parking lot to the popular Thurston Lava Tube, one of the most popular sights here inside the park.

Because of the busy time of the day, I decided to walk through the lava tube on my way back and instead I continued past the tube and went on to the Escape Road, a 4.8 miles long stretch of hiking and biking road towards Mauna Ulu. It was originally build in the 1800s to bring supplies from the coast up to Kilauea, but later extended as an emergency road just in case if lava would block chain of craters road again.



The road was pretty muddy because of all the rain we had the last few weeks and went through a lush rainforest. In most parts, the rainforest was so thick that there were no views to the surrounding area.

 
Young Hapu'u Tree Fern

Despite the muddy parts I made good progress because I lost a good amount of elevation on my way to Mauna Ulu. It would be a good climb on my way back but at least it was all gradually and not only one short steep section. After a while of fast paced hiking the rainforest gave way to the impressive lava shield of Mauna Ulu. Cinder covered the entire are and Ohia trees and the invasive Faya trees were spread out over a wide area. Every now and then there were pretty awesome lava trees and tree molds which were created during the Mauna Ulu eruption.




Pu'u Huluhulu ahead

I really loved the entire area. The first views of Mauna Ulu und Pu’u Huluhulu came into sight, it would be my last stop before turning around and hike back out again. The trail followed across some old lava slabs of the Mauna Ulu eruption and then turned left up to a hill covered in rain forest vegetation. It was Pu’u Huluhulu which means hairy hill in Hawaiian. This cinder cone would be the end of my route. 


Mauna Ulu Lavashield

I ascended about 300 feet up to the top to the little viewing platform. From here you have a 360-degree view of the surrounding area on clear days. It wasn’t the case today but I could still see a steaming Pu’u O’o in the distance, the source where all the lava was coming from on our lava hikes.




Pu'u O'o


After a short snack break, I started to head back. It didn’t take long and it started to rain. The rain was okay but it made the trail even more slippery and muddy as it already was. And my hiking shoes were not really water proof.
On the way back I stopped at the Thurston Lava Tube and walked the quarter of a mile loop through it. This lava tube was the most famous one in the park and was usually a zoo. But if you go late enough you often have all on your own.

 

From there I followed the Crater Rim trail past the old park road. It partially collapsed during an earthquake in 1982 and is now only open to hikers. Most of the road was already overgrown, it’s amazing how fast nature can take over.


old park road on Waldron Ledge

I hiked past the Visitor Center and back to the steam vents. It was around sunset and the colors were really nice right now. I definitely had to stop and enjoy the view. Even though it was pretty cloudy, it was a great view and the moon was also visible for a bit.





From the steam vents, I continued the last two miles back to the Jaggar Museum. With my wet shoes and socks, it wasn’t as comfortable as I wanted it to be and my feet started to hurt a bit. I definitely needed Gore Tex hiking shoes for future hikes, especially with having such a wet winter like this year. I finally reached the parking lot and my phone had recorded 20.4 miles. Not bad for a day hike.



As a reward, I went to the view point at the Jaggar Museum and enjoyed the glowing lava lake for a bit.



Tired, but happy I went back home and smiled. 20.4 miles was the longest day hikes for quite a while. Now I simply need to find an extension with 6 more miles, so I could hike a marathon next time.