early morning hike to The Vortex, June 24, 2018

Temperatures above 100F are the norm in Southern Utah during the summer months.
But that doesn't mean you can't get out and hike. You simply need to adjust your activities to cooler temperatures of the day.
Today, I decided to hike with some friends to the Vortex, a popular short hike near Veyo.  We started in the pre-dawn hours and nice light surrounded us for a while.

The trail is pretty sandy at some spots. At one point I discovered a still water-filled pothole and was surprised to see it packed with canyon tree frogs. I've never seen so many of them at the same spot. It was just amazing.

The sun was up soon after this fun encounter and lit up the sandstone cliffs. We soon began to climb up to the Camelback Mountain. Within its sandstone area was the Vortex, a deep pothole bowl. It was pretty cool to see.

view to the west towards Square Top Mountain

The short hike out was uneventful. The entire area has a lot of potential for future explorations.

Sunset at Observation Point, June 15, 2018

after my relocation back to Southern Utah it didn't take me long to go on my first hike. I decided to do Observation Point, a great viewpoint hike in Zion Nationa Park, for sunset. In the summertime access to the main canyon is only by shuttle but they do only run until 9:30pm each night.
So I hiked in the easy way from the back side up on the plateau. The hike itself was only about 8 miles round trip and could easily be done in the dark.
It was pretty windy out there so it wasn't the easiest task to take decent pictures. There were lots of high clouds and I was pretty happy about it.
They really lit up like crazy around sunset and I loved the images I was able to get.

I also found a dead tree at the canyon rim. It was a perfect foreground object. 

On my way back I stopped at the Human History Museum and took a shot of the Milky Way. Due to all the clouds, it was only partially visible but it was still a nice shot. It was for sure a great first outing here in Southern Utah and I was excited about my future adventures.

Lower Puna during the ongoing eruption, May 25, 2018

For more than two weeks the new eruption was going on and there was no sign that it would stop soon. Fissure 8 was active than ever and each day properties and roads were taken.
We all had to deal with bad air quality at several times, torrential rain as the volcano produced its own localized weather. Not to mention the forever sunset. After dark, the sky lit up in a bright red and lasted the entire night.
Tonight, I went out to my favorite photo spot in Hawaiian Paradise Park and walked along the cliffs.
It was pretty cloudy but the clouds started to lit up really nice for a few minutes.

I wanted until it was getting really really dark and wasn't disappointed by the provided light show. 

At first, the glow was just visible for a bit but soon grew stronger and stronger.

Even a few stars were visible for a few moments before it started to rain again.

I decided to drive down to the town of Pahoa. I had a special shot in mind at the Catholic Church where there was a Jesus statue on the lawn. When I arrived the sky was deep red and the glow of fissure 8 was reflecting in the sky. It almost looked like an apocalyptic scene to me.

I was pretty happy with the results and stopped at the Pahoa High School as well to take a picture of the intersection of highway 130 and highway 132.

Back home I took a few shots from my driveway and garden. Even about 6 miles away the glow was pretty dominant and lit up the sky. 

It was an interesting evening and was for sure a new reality for most of us here in lower Puna. I'm not sure how long the eruption will last but this could go on forever. 

For me, an end was in sight as I will move back to the mainland in about 2 weeks. I will for sure miss the volcano, lava, and all the nice areas here in lower Puna.

Helicopter flight over the lava, May 19, 2018

When friends asked me if I would be interested to fly in a helicopter doors off across the active fissure eruption in Leilani Estates I didn't hesitate. This was a chance for me to finally see the new eruption. I wasn't sure what to expect because I've never been in a helicopter before.
We had an early morning flight and checked in at Hilo airport with Paradise Helicopters about an hour before our flight took place. After all the instructions were done our seats were assigned.
I sat next to the pilot which was pretty cool.
We took off and headed towards Lower Puna. Because we were all photographers the pilot offered us to only hower over the lava flow which we gratefully appreciated. Due to flight restrictions, the helicopter had to fly 3,000 ft high but even from this elevation, we could feel the heat. It was intense, wow.

The massive rivers of lava were just unbelievable and breathtaking. There was a lot of haze in the air and a sulfur steam plume as well but despite these conditions, the view of the channelized lava river was something I will never forget.

massive fissure eruption

 W hovered many times across the area, above the several fissures and the PGV. Luckily, the thermal energy plant had removed all of its flammable material a few days ago and also quenched and shut off the valves. It was heartbreaking to see all the houses in Pele's path, some of them only feet away from the lava river.

PGV to the right, fissures and lava near the property

The flow front was less than half a mile away from entering the ocean and I'm pretty sure it will happen either tonight or tomorrow. Really crazy to think about it. But the massive river of lava was flowing so fast, there was no way it would stop soon.

some structures still standing surrounded by lava

close-up lava river

The entire 45 minutes felt as they were passing by way too fast. But the bird's eye view was an absolutely amazing experience. I gained a whole new perspective of this eruptive event.

After a final round across the eruption area, we flew back to Hilo. Luckily the weather cooperated on our flight and I ended up with quite a few shots I liked. I don't know how many pictures I took, my memory card was almost full. Thanks to Paradise Helicopter for this amazing flight experience, I never thought I will ever fly in a helicopter.

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.