Episode 28

Late last night I saw that there was lava starting to ooze out of the vent & on to the crater floor. At 10:43 pm I sent out a text to Tomiko, Fran, & Kai saying, "Lava starting to ooze out of vent. Has some sputtering activity. This may be started [sic] of precursory activity. Will let you know if I get official email before I go to bed." But no email arrived.

After my early morning bathroom break, I checked the webcam again. And at 5:05 sent out a text saying, "We should go today. HVO has not issued a statement but this looks promising. Besides, over the next 3 days we have things that will keep us from going." At 5:11 am the HVO issued the official word. I saw it about 45 minutes later & texted, " It's official, eruption has started. Although alert notes 150' high fountains current screen shot is more like 1000'. We really should go today!" Thus started our adventure for the day!

Screen shot with fountains over 1000 feet high!

I picked Fran up about 8 am. Then we headed to Waimea to pick up Tomiko; she was working there last night. I had packed some fruit, crackers, & dried fish for us to snack on. Fran brought chips, more fruit, & granola bars. And Tomiko brought butter mochi. As we headed towards the volcano, HVO issued its daily update; it now noted the high fountaining.

It was a good thing we had a lot of snacks. For most of the usually 2 hour 15 minute trip it was smooth sailing. Then, about 2&1/2 miles from the park entrance, we came to the end of the line of people headed to see the eruption; it was 11:07 am. From there it took us about 1&1/2 hours to get to the park entrance. We munched on our snacks while we creeped along with all the other vehicles.

At 11:10 am; traffic jam near mile post 27. Vertical white cloud above car is plume from eruption.

At 12:11 pm, near mile post 28.

At 12:38 pm; we made it to the entrance!

Along the way we saw people walking alongside the road towards the park entrance, a skateboarder, & a bicyclist. We also saw a guy who needed to relieve himself but didn't want to go past the edge of the forest! There was also an entrepreneur selling volcano candles.

He was riding on his skateboard a few seconds before I took the photo.

He could have at least taken a few steps in!

We did not see anyone buying any candles.

Once inside the park it took us about another 20 minutes to get to the steam vents which offered a great view point & easier parking than at the Volcano House; the road construction within the park did not help with the traffic flow. I dropped Fran & Tomiko off so they could walk over to the viewing area while I found a place to park. Fortunately, the time I spent dropping them off allowed someone ahead of me to pull out of their parking spot, so I grabbed it immediately!

At the entrance at 12:42 pm.

I like improvements being made but it did slow down access to viewing areas.

On our way to viewing area at 12:52 pm.

Now only a short 0.1 mile hike out to overlook at 12:59 pm.

We got to the view point & started taking photos & watching the activity through the binoculars that I had brought. The fountaining was lower than when I checked at 5 in the morning. And as we watched it shifted & became even lower; I noted that it looked like it was going to stop soon. And a few minutes later it did; we got to watch the action for about 20 minutes before Episode 28 went on pause. The official word came out about a half hour later; Episode 28 lasted for about 9 hours. It's a good thing we started our trip as early as we did.

At 1:02 pm walking out to viewpoint.

Our 1st glimpse of Episode 28; I ended up standing near couple seated by edge of viewing area.

Close-up view at 1:02 pm.

At 1:09 pm; its starting to slow down.

At 1:11 pm.

At 1:15 pm.

At 1:18 pm.

At 1:20 pm.

A few seconds later; it never came back after this.

Although the eruption was on pause, there was still a lot more to see at the park. We drove by the tree molds, stopped at Kīpukapuaulu to look for birds, & drove up the Mauna Loa Road a short way.

Kīpukapuaulu interpretive sign.

Driving along the Mauna Loa Road.

We returned to the main HVNP to see the latest artwork at the Volcano Art Gallery. We stopped briefly at Volcano House to check out their gift shop. It was about 4:30 pm when we finished shopping so we headed back to Waimea where we had dinner at Jade Palace.

This sculpture is made of cut paper pieces.

View from Volcano House foyer.

Kai did not go to see the eruption with us. He was still feeling ill & in the morning he also began to have diarrhea; from his symptoms I figured it was viral diarrhea which means sticking close to a toilet. When I got back he was somewhat better; fasting helped minimize the urgent diarrhea but made him weaker. I made him some bouillon so he could get back some of his electrolytes. The cats kept him company throughout the day.

Hoʻokoa chilling with Kai.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jim & Adrian!