Biking Kilauea

Today we went on a bike tour of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. We biked around the Kilauea Caldrea and down part of the volcano with a small group of fellow bikers and a super-cool-laid-back-self-proclaimed "rock geek," who was our very knowledgeable guide and naturalist. We started with a short history and geology lesson at the Jaggar Museum, where we were able to view the active Halema'uma'u Crater (yes, I had to look that up to spell it correctly), which is the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. Then we were off along the Crater Rim Trail, passing the famous gaseous steam vents, the "Volcano House," which is slated to re-open as a culinary school for island style cuisine in 2011, and the Kilauea Iki Crater, which is famous for its 1959 eruption when it exploded into gargantuan fountains of lava--some reaching 1,900 feet in the air!--while onlookers watched from only a mile away. We also parked our bikes for an eerie walk through the Thurston Lava Tube, which was formed as flowing lava cooled from the outside in.

It was a pretty amazing day. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we sailed down the volcano; lava fields like the surface of the moon and miles of blue sky whizzing by.

Here are some of the most interesting things I learned today:

1) There are two types of lava: pahoehoe (pronounced pa-hoy-hoy), which is the thick, ropey, slow-moving molten lava that I dream of, and a'a (pronounced ah-ah), which our guidebook describes as "rough and clinkery." You can remember the difference by thinking of the sound one might make while walking barefoot on the a'a lava..."Ah! Ah!"

2) There are certain trees and plants that can and do grow in a lava field after an eruption. They have lateral roots (instead of roots that stick down, like most plants), so they are able to get moisture and nutrients from little cracks in the hardened lava.

3) Lava sometimes bursts from fissures that crack open the ground. Sweeeeet.

4) The Pu'u 'O'o Crater (pronounced poo-ooh oh-oh...hee hee) is the heart of the current eruption. It has been erupting continuously since January 1983.

5) Madame Pele is a rather jealous goddess. She once fell in love with a young, handsome chief called 'Ohi'a, who was already in love with a beautiful girl named Lehua. Pele appeared to 'Ohi'a in the mountains (he had gone to cut kukui bark to stain his surfboard) and asked for him to be her husband. He turned her down, professing his eternal love for the young Lehua, and Pele flew into a jealous rage. She turned him into a gnarled tree in her anger. The other gods felt badly about what Pele had done, but they couldn't reverse the magic. The best solution they could come up with was to reunite the devastated Lehua with her love by turning her into a beautiful blossom on the same tree. To this day, it's said that picking a Lehua blossom from a 'Ohi'a tree will create rain, because the raindrops are the tears of the young lovers from being separated once again.

A Lehua blossom on an 'Ohi'a tree.


The active Halema'uma'u Crater blowing off some steam.


Looking at a steam vent. It smells...sulfury.


Biking is rad. My huge grin is from right after we sailed down the volcano. I didn't want to stop!




Me, sitting in a lava tree mold. These form when a super-tough tree, like the 'Ohi'a tree, is able to withstand the heat of the molten lava for long enough that the lava pools up and cools around the base of the tree.


Eric's version of a great portrait of me.


Inside the Thurston Lava Tube. Eric had the tough job of holding the whole thing up with his head.




Tiny pieces of lava called "Pele's tears" for their tear-shaped formation. Our tour guide was very impressed by the strange u-shaped one--he said he'd never seen anything like that before.


Taking five in a lava field.