Kīlauea Caldera and Mauna Loa

Today was a day to learn about volcanoes. We drove for 2 hours both ways to see Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. These volcanoes are called shield volcanoes. They look more flat than the volcanoes of Mt Baker or Mt Saint Helen. 

Mauna Loa, meaning long mountain is the earth’s largest active volcano by both mass and volume. 

Her most recent eruption was in November 27, 2022 and ended on December 13, 2022. 

The one we many looked at was Kīlauea Caldera. She was active in 2018 and caused many homes to be destroyed. 

When you look into the massive crater you can see how large she is. 

The plumes you can see are sulphur, not good to be near. 

We had a park volunteer explain about the volcanoes. If you look carefully you can see that there used to be a road to drive around them. This is no longer possible. The last time that Kīlauea blew up the road was partially destroyed.

The crater looks like hard lava.

Norm thought maybe time for some dune buggy rentals in the crater…..?? 

Walking along there were many steam vents coming up from the ground. They were really hot! 

Kīlauea has a large, fairly recently formed caldera at its summit and two active rift zones, one extending 78 miles east and the other 22 miles west. 

We were now ready for lunch before we started a trip home. 

Pizza and pork sliders. No Yellow Bunny today. Too windy and poured rain at times. Norm’s hat blew off his head but caught in time before it went into the volcano! 

Maybe next time there will be lava. The park is open 24 hours a day. Very busy at night when the lava is flowing!