Kalapana is a village covered by recent lava flows from Kilauea Caldera, like other villages between there and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The Kalapana Lava Flow ate up another three miles of Chain of Craters Road, which once connected HI Route 130 into the Park but is now a distant dead-end. All of the road photos are on the HI Route 130 page (linked at bottom), and here are the lava flow photos.


The mauka, or land-side, view. Lava flows streak across the landscape, and greenery continues to flourish anywhere the lava didn't touch.


Images from the rough walk to the ocean: smooth pahoehoe shows how lava cooled as it flowed, and ferns mark the first stages of recovery after just a few years. If no more lava comes this way, the ferns and other species will eventually take over the rocks and give way to trees and flowers until this looks just like the rest of Hawai`i's forests.


Where the lava tube meets the sea, turning the ocean into an instant plume of smoke. New island is slowly being added here by the oozing molten rock just beneath the surface, a surface created by the lava itself as it cooled in contact with air.


The extent of the flow is visible as a green streak beneath the ocean, signifying shallower water.


The constant volcanic activity occasionally comes out dark, in which case a small bit of rock just exploded from pressure built up inside (combination of gases and heat), or if you're lucky and have a quick trigger finger, it comes out orange thanks to a slightly zestier flow. It's highly variable, so be ready and bring batteries.


The spectacle of the lava flow is a nightly occurrence, drawing hundreds of people on an island that barely numbers 160,000 total population. Of course, as you can see, these are mostly tourists. I did say nightly - the best show is about to start.


Somehow sensing how popular it has become, the lava flow puts on a show, sending sprays of lava shooting dozens of feet high and permeating the base of the steam cloud with an orange glow.


As night falls and daylight fades away, the only light left is the orangey red of molten rock streaming into the ocean. The level of activity hasn't changed, but that underlighting slowly fills the steam cloud until it glows like an eternal fire.

More Big Island photos
Out of Kalapana on HI Route 130
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