I visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park during Thanksgiving holiday, six months before the last eruption in May 2018. Little did I know that Kilauea was about to erupt, while I was walking across the cooled lava in an active lava field. Whoa!!! The park was amazing with dramatic, cooled, volcanic lava everywhere, an underground volcano tunnel and smoking Kilauea.
I wanted to see flowing lava while visiting Hawaii. I have this thing called a life list, bucket list to others, and walking over lava was on that list. I had to check it off. The lava fields are not park of the National Park so I was on our own. Well, my boyfriend was there on holiday break with me and thank goodness I had someone to yell at during my scared moments. I was given the smallest flashlight available and told to be back by 9:00 PM. Holy cow, it was so dark, my feet were on fire, luckily I did some research and was advised to buy a pair of cheap shoes because they would be ruined by the lava rocks. Check, but they did not help cool my feet down.
I could feel and see the lava flowing right under my feet. It was so hot and red, not just red, but I’m going to gobble you up kinda fiery, red. I was protected only by a small piece of cooled lava that shifted under my weight. The field was so large and I of course wanted to see it as night, yay me, it was so dark and those flashlights didn’t do much. I was scared, excited, and nervous that I was going to fall in and die a morbidly, gruesome death. However, I was also stupidly, happy and thrilled that I had enough guts to walk over lava. My boyfriend and I were so lucky to have happened upon a local family on holiday and the Uncle was a lava field guide. How amazing is that? I was so happy because I really think we were walking around in circles trying to figure out where to go.
The extended family of around fifteen people completely accepted the both of us into their family and watched out for us the entire time. He knew exactly where to go so we got directly next to a fast, flowing lava flow. We even saw fire shooting out from the lava. Then, when I thought I couldn’t take the heat any longer, the Uncle said that our next destination was to a larger lava flow. Oh boy! He lead the entire family, and his two new adopted children, about a half a mile up the mountain and there were several lava flows.
These lava flows were huge and the most beautiful, raw, natural thing I’ve ever seen on the planet. I was watching our planet grow. It was such an amazing experience. The entire family stopped to take pictures of each other and just to celebrate our courage or stupidity. The family wanted to stay longer, but I felt like my shoes were about to melt off of my feet. My brilliant boyfriend put a GPS on our bikes and he got us right back to where we started, with lots of screaming and yelling from me.
Luckily, I did not fall into the lava but I am a clutz so I did lose my balance and my hand touched the cooled lava. The shards of lava are like pieces of glass shards. I was cut up a bit, but not too bad. I did feel like I had glass stuck in my hand for a few days. Also, the next day, my voice was horse a bit from inhaling the fumes from an active volcano. It’s all part of the adventure.
Explore the quirky adventures and misadventures as I take you on a journey of the United States National Parks. These journeys inspired me to explore even more about the history of the United States, the good, the bad and the ugly. These journeys are encouragements to explore, or re-examine these beautiful lands. From mountain roads with hairpin turns to stunning seaside escapes to exploring good old American history, these areamazing journeys to take in this lifetime.
