• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Janice Beetle Books

Writing, editing, book development, and publishing help

  • Home
  • About
    • My Books
    • Clients’ Books
    • Privacy Policy
  • Services
    • Creative Writing Review/Coaching
    • Book Development /Writing
      • Book Development Sampler
    • Book Editing
    • Copy Editing
    • Book Design
    • Publishing Guidance
  • Blog
  • Poem Pods
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Order My Book
You are here: Home / Adventures / A Once-in-a-Lifetime Sight

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Sight

January 6, 2017 by Janice Beetle Leave a Comment

Note: This is the eighth of fourteen parts. Click here to read from the beginning.

The terrain heading into the lava viewing area in Kamokuna was a smooth yet dusty and rocky road, a residential road, if you can believe it. This area is called Lava Land by the locals. It covers several hundred miles that once housed a town and was home to 600 residences; it was all destroyed several years after the lava in the current eruption began flowing in 1983.

Molly and I were amazed to see that dozens of people have built homes in this wasteland, where residents live totally off the grid. It’s like living in a parking lot; there is no vegetation, except at the homes where residents have clearly planted coconut trees and other indigenous plants to focus on rejuvenation. The homes ranged from tin shanties to actual structures complete with front decks facing the sunset and boardwalks to their driveways.

Residents of Lava Land allow thrill-seekers like us to access their property from 3 to 9 p.m. daily to view the lava. Dozens of folks like us were on the road with us, on foot and on bikes. We’d considered renting bikes, but I pressed to walk as I thought it would feel more like an achievement. Some of the residents were selling water and fruit.

We had started out at 4:15 and expected to arrive about 5:30. We walked for 75 minutes, getting more animated as we got closer and closer to the plume of steam. We talked about what we might expect.

When we finally arrived, we saw about 100 or more people gathered on the cliffs facing the steam, all behind a set of ropes hung by the park rangers. We could only see steam, no lava. We were back much farther than we’d imagined and even though neither of us said so, we were disappointed with the sight before us. We complained about the rope; why was it so far?

We wiggled our way into the front row of viewers, just behind the rope, and sat on the volcanic rock, snapping pictures like everyone else.

“I sure hope something looks different after sunset,” I said to Molly, and she nodded.

Well before the glorious sunset that was also in store for us that night, we had our first inkling of what was to come, getting occasional peeks at bright orange lava bubbling into the cauldron of the sea every now and then.

“Whoa, did you see that?” I’d say to Molly as dozens of other voices uttered the same words around us. There were all kinds of oohs and aahs from a very quiet and respectable crowd.

As it got dark, the area of lava flow we were studying began to glow like a pit of embers; it bubbled and boiled and seemed like a living being, raging into the sea. You could clearly see the fiery lava flowing into the ocean at all times, and every now and again, molten flow was thrown into the air by the sea in great, glowing orange plumes that met the clouds of steam. The flow changed shape continuously, looking angry and blistering hot. It was incredible. We sat on our perches for about an hour, each snapping dozens of photos with my iPhone, a digital camera and Molly’s GoPro.

We headed back to the car about 7:15, jabbering continuously about what we’d seen and how awesome it was. We told each other the story of the one guy who crossed the rope line to get a better view and, in doing so, obstructed everyone else’s view.

“I can’t believe people threw stones at him,” Molly said.

“He was a stubborn guy,” I responded, as he’d refused to move even after people began pelting him with volcanic rocks.

Less than a week later, on New Year’s Eve day, Molly and I learned why the ropes were necessary. On that day, five other people crossed over the boundary and were called back to safety by a ranger only 15 minutes before the cliff collapsed at 2:45 sending showers of volcanic rock and gases into the air. The viewing area we were so lucky to see is now closed to the public indefinitely.

We are so lucky to have been able to see it. When we reached the car, we had that feeling I love so much—deeply satisfied, sore and bone-weary, hungry, exhausted to the core and completely elated to know we’d experienced the thrill of a lifetime, images we could forever carry with us.

 

Click here to read the next blog in this series. Make sure you don’t miss it; sign up to follow this blog on the Home page, in the sidebar.

← Previous Post
Next Post →

Filed Under: Adventures, All Tagged With: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Kamokuna, lava eruption, lava flow, molten lava

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe

Please enter your email address to receive blog posts by email.

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Larceny in the Aisles is Hot Off the Press!
  • Ten Tips for the Travel Writer-Wannabe
  • Thrilled to Meet My Client From London

Archives

  • October 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • November 2012

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

© 2023 Janice Beetle Books · Privacy Policy
Content by Janice Beetle Books · Site by Turn Signal Media