Kilauea is almost always oozing lava somewhere, though rarely at the summit where the visitor center of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is situated. There are two main fractures in the body of the volcano that radiate outward from the summit, one heading southwest through the Ka'u desert, and the other heading east through Puna towards Kapoho. These ground fractures are weak points through which magma can move more easily to the surface. As a result, eruptions usually happen either at the summit or along one of the fractures (called "rift zones"). The Chain of Craters road parallels the East Rift Zone for a few miles as you drive east from the visitor center, passing a line of craters from numerous historical eruptions.

Since 1983, Kilauea has been erupting at a spot along the East Rift Zone about 10 miles east of the summit. High lava fountaining during the early years of the eruption built up a cinder cone that was named "Pu'u 'O'o". Its location happens to be almost exactly on the boundary of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, and is effectively in the middle of nowhere -- well, actually, the middle of beautiful Hawaiian rainforest, an ecologically important region of native plants and animals. It is an elusive sight, at about 2500-foot elevation, barely visible from any roads, and almost constantly shrouded in clouds and rain. To reach it from Chain of Craters road requires a difficult hike of almost 10 miles, across treacherous lava rock terrain - a prohibitive trek for most. There is another access point - the highway towards Hilo actually comes within 5 miles of Pu'u 'O'o, and there is a seldom-maintained trail that leads to it from the closest point. It was along this trail that I joined a couple of other HVO folks one fine morning to try to get close to the source of all the excitement.

I had stood on the slopes of Pu'u 'O'o once before, when I accompanied a geologist, Carl Thornber, out to collect samples of lava spatter from catch trays positioned around the edges of the crater. We were flown out by helicopter, into a cloud of choking acid fume, steam, and precipitation. The helicopter dropped us off at the base of the cone; literally, we had to jump out while it hovered just above the ground. When lava first hits the surface of the earth, it has a lot of gas in it (like the foam that erupts out of a shaken soda can). When this lava solidifies, it forms a very weak, porous rock structure with pockets of empty space. It is difficult just to walk in the vicinity of Pu'u 'O'o - your feet often crunch through the rocks, sometimes several feet, and you come crashing down onto sharp glassy fragments. So landing a helicopter on the stuff is out of the question. I stuck close behind Carl (because if he got more than a couple feet away I would lose sight of him and become totally disoriented), and we felt our way around to gather bits of hardened lava teardrops ("Pele's Tears") that had been ejected over the crater rim from an active lava lake within. All the while the ground faintly trembled, and I could hear sloshing sounds coming from somewhere closeby, beyond the cloud wall. It was an unnerving experience. The view at left is about the best glimpse we had of Pu'u 'O'o that day...

But it was a different story the day I hiked out along the rainforest trail. It started off pretty wet and rainy, but no sooner had we set out through the mist than the clouds began to break and strong sunlight beat down. It's a muddy trail, sometimes ankle-deep, and at times difficult to follow. But after a couple hours of sloughing through the muck, the forest began to thin out. We noticed more and more dying and dead trees, and the tell-tale sulfurous smells became thick in the air.

The rainforest ended abruptly in solid, black, unbroken lava rock, and a few hundred yards ahead lay Pu'u 'O'o, in full view and bright sun, churning out a solid cloud of thick volcanic fumes. We slowly made our way across the thin, crunchy lava, and as we rounded the right side of the cone, one of the geologists, Laszlo, looked back and yelled, "It's fountaining!". With an adrenaline rush we almost ran forward, and came across an awesome sight - a huge dome of lava bubbling out of the ground, feeding a pool that had overflowed its banks, forming a brisk molten river that flowed for miles down past us and off into the forest.

Several days earlier the eruption had been in pause, and had restarted with lava breaking through the ground in new places. Several new vents opened within and around Pu'u 'O'o. The one depicted here was named "Vent 55", representing the 55th different episode in the Pu'u 'O'o eruption since it began in 1983. Activity had settled at this vent a few days earlier when lava burst out of the ground. As the erupted lava fell back to earth, it started building up a cone. This cone now contained a lava pool that was vigorously sloshing and splashing. The lava river cascaded over a small cliff and continued down to flatter ground, where it was igniting trees at the edge of the rainforest. The activity was mesmerizing, and we watched for several hours. Bright orange molten rock was continuously flying 30 or 40 feet up into the air. Every few minutes I looked nervously about, making sure that we were still higher than the lava river (which overflowed its banks several times as we stood watching), and that we had an escape route in case the activity unexpectedly changed.

It was difficult to tear ourselves away from this once-in-a-lifetime experience, but we had to be back to the truck before dark and had several hours of trudging through mud to get there. So we turned away and carefully treaded back across the lava field to the forest's edge. A bit more searching and we located the trail opening, and then we were off, engulfed again in the beautiful green Hawaiian rainforest. The walk was mostly silent on the return trip, as we tried to absorb what we had just witnessed. And so one of the most excellent days of my life came to a close...