The massive Kilauea Iki Crater on the Big Island.
It was a bit eerie inside the Kilauea Iki Crater on Hawaii’s Big Island. Perhaps it was knowing that in 1959 the rock we were walking on was a massive sea of molten lava as another eruption blew up the earth’s interior. Perhaps it was the mysterious venting from the deep holes in the crater floor that mixed with the low cloud cover, fog and mist. It was also strangely quiet as we passed by huge sections of lava rock that had been unceremoniously cracked and heaved into odd shapes.
I had imagined a sunny day (a natural byproduct of living in Saskatchewan) to capture this amazing scene but here I was trying to quickly take a shot before the mist covered my lens. I should have known better since we tramped through a rain forest to get to the crater. The dark crater floor and low light levels made photography challenging. I finally decided to shoot along the crater floor to give some sense of the size of the place (there are small people hiking near the top of the photo). After cropping out most of the sky, I quite liked the shot and decided it would be part of my moody collection.
The photo below was taken high up on the crater rim and provides a different perspective.
Standing at the crater rim looking in.
There’s a description of the eruption at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/history/1959Nov14/
A close up view of the lava rock on the crater floor.
Krahnpix 
At Volcano National Park they told us it was very rare to see molten lava (despite the misleading photos on the website) – we were disappointed. We were reading that one of the last times the lava flowed the traffic was back up 20 miles. My mobility was restricted so we didn’t go on the lava forest hikes.
We were on the Big Island for two weeks, then went to Pearl Harbour on our way home. We were most fascinated by the difference in climates in such a small area. The turtles still got my vote for the best part.
I’m convinced most people take quite different holidays to Hawaii depending on their interests. We put 2,700 km on the rental car which seems different than most. Exploring a completely different place was a lot of fun.
The free housing sounds good.
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All that lava is quote amazing. We were there just over 2 years ago. Did you get to see the lava forest? Did you see any molten lava? How long were you in Hawaii and which islands did you visit? We were just on the big island (outside of the landing part). our friends go there every other year and offered to give us free housing in the condo they rent. Good times.
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