Afternoon/Night hike to Pu'u O'o
This was a crazy long hike (18 miles round trip) but very worthwhile. Kathy, Crazy Olivier, and I started out in the midafternoon, after obtaining our trail permit at the visitor center. The hike was over cairned lava for much of the way, although the last few miles were in rainforest on crater rims. We reached Napau crater just as the sun was setting. I went out to the viewpoint for a great view of pu'u o'o steaming away. From there, we got out our flashlights and followed a trail of use another couple miles as far as we could to close enough views of this erupting cone. The experience was surreal. Mostly the volcano lit up the clouds and steam above a blood red. Sometimes I could see blobs of lava tossed up out of the caldera. A few seconds after seeing each of those spoutings, I could "hear" (feel) a deep,deep bass sound, the sound you'd expect to come from the depths of the earth. While laying on the cinder, Kathy even felt an earthquake. Raw, powerful nature.
The steam plume from where lava was entering the sea
Looking across Napau Crater at Pu'u O'o
Two breakouts visible on the right
