When we booked our trip to Hawaii we knew we were coming to Volcanoes National Park but we did not expect it all to see a volcano actually erupting. If we had visited between 1983 and 2018, we would have been guaranteed to see an eruption because the volcano erupted continuously for 35 years. After 2018 it only erupted off and on a few times over the following years. When we booked the trip last October, the volcano was not erupting. However, on December 23rd of last year the volcano did in fact start erupting again. While the volcano has been erupting since December, there have only been 13 instances of fountaining lava in that time ranging from 13 hours to 8 days each. Episode 13 (they call the fountaining lava flows episodes) ended on March 12th early in the morning which happened to be the day we arrived in Hawaii.
While we could see smoke which meant that there was some kind of eruption, you really could not see much in terms of lava flowing. We were not sure if we were going to see actual lava flowing on this trip, let alone fountaining of the lava. When we left the national park a couple days ago, we had plans to explore more of the island. Chris signed up for emails to be sent with the status of the volcano. A few times a day, Chris would get an email that explained the current status of the volcano as well as predictions for the next episode. We also found a live webcam so we could actually see what was going on at the volcano in real time. Two days ago when we left the park that predicted timing of episode 14 was between two and five days away. We knew that if it happened while we were still on the island we were going to change our plans and drive back to the park to see the volcano. We crossed our fingers that it wouldn't happen on day five because that's the day that we were flying out. Hopefully the timing would be good and if it happened while we were still on the island, it would be more than an 8-hour episode because we were an hour drive away at best. Even if we dropped everything at the instant that it started we would have to drive an hour to get there and walk another half hour to our viewpoint.
Yesterday's email notification told us that episode 14 had in fact started. Checking the live webcam, we could see that while it was impressive (because it's a volcano!), the fountaining was not especially high. We tossed the idea around of going yesterday afternoon, but the jet lag was still killing us and we are still going to bed by 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., trying to keep Sofia on her Eastern Time zone schedule. We decided that when we woke up in the morning we would take a look at the webcam and make our decision. One of us woke up at around 230 AM, woke the other, and we checked the live feed. Things were still erupting and we decided to get a couple more hours' sleep before heading out. When we woke up at 4:30 Chris immediately looked at the webcam, checked his email and saw that things were still going down so we decided to hit the road. We quickly got dressed, made a couple of sandwiches and packed the cooler with water. We did not wake Sofia, instead carrying her to the car so she could get another hour sleep on the way. We got about 3 miles from the Airbnb and realized we had forgotten Sofia's shoes, so we turned around. Good thing we were close! We made the hour and 5-minute drive in 55 minutes including a stop for gas! A few miles away from the national park, we could see the sky glowing red against the clouds as it was still a little before dawn. We made it to the parking lot expecting to see it completely full, but we found a spot pretty quickly and started our mile walk to the lookout. It was getting closer to dusk but it was still dark enough where we would have needed a flashlight. We didn't have one with us but that didn't matter because we were walking along a closed section of the road that had been closed during prior years' eruptions. Our vantage point would be about a mile and a half away from the eruption.
We were not at all prepared to see what we saw. At first the volcano was erupting fountaining lava maybe 50 to 100 ft into the air, primarily from one location. We thought this was very impressive. A man standing next to us who lives locally said that he had been here for 12 of the 13 episodes leading up to this and this was the most impressive so far. We watched for at least a half an hour just in awe that what was happening before our eyes. It isn't every day that you get to see Earth actually being created.
Then the show really started. The first of the two vents started fountaining even higher and higher. It was estimated to reach between 400 and 500 ft high. Then the second event started fountaining in parallel. Together they each reached heights ranging from 600 to 700 ft. For those who can't visualize what 700 ft. Tall might be, the Golden Gate Bridge towers are about 745 ft. So the lava was fountaining about as high as the Golden Gate bridge. We later learned that it's been decades since this volcano has fountained to that height. Believe it or not, even from a mile and a half away, you could feel some of the heat from the lava. The sound was pretty impressible as well. It sort of sounded like waves crashing at the ocean. Again, from a mile and a half away. We stayed a few hours leaving when it seemed to us that the fountaining was slowing down. We later learned that the fountaining stopped completely and episode 14 was done a little after 1:00 p.m.
It was so hard to pick some pictures as we took hundreds. Some of the pictures below are impressive, but do not really do it justice. We cannot explain to you how fortunate we feel to have seen this. This is absolutely a once in a lifetime experience.
