Walking on fire

One of the biggest tourist attractions on Big Island is the most active volcano on earth. As a visitor you can see old lava from former eruptions, assess the damage on the rainforest caused by eruptions, and… watch hot lava flow into the ocean.

An active volcano is not an easily controlled tourist attraction. When Volcano Park was created, you could watch lava in there. However, lava did not respect national park boundaries and for a few years now, it has moved several kilometers outside the park, cutting a local road in half and creating an unexpected and new booming tourist center in the middle of a moon-like landscape created by old lava from past eruptions.

There are many possibilities for lava-watchers: you can go over the lava in a helicopter, approach it on a ship from the water, or, if you are more adventurous, just walk over there and see it right in front of you.

We opted for the last possibility. I don’t know exactly what I expected, but when I started walking, I understood that the fumes quite far away. We hoped to be able to see the lava at sunset before watching it in the dark. So we immediately set off at a quick pace.

Walking on lava is not simple – the surface is uneven and easily cuts through cloths and skin if you happen to fall. And you have to watch for cracks that can be several meters deep. Walking through it in the dark required all out attention. So imagine my feelings when suddenly I realized that the lava under our feet was actually warm! Well, let me tell you, my first thought was: “let’s get out of here!” this was more easily said then done, as all we could see around us was lava and there was no saying which one would be colder than the rest…

And then, just when I was starting to regret ever coming on Big Island, a lady in flip-flops approached us and asked if we were lost. As it turns out, there is a village hidden in the middle of the lava rocks. The houses once had backyards and driveways – those luxuries were swept off by lava. But the houses are still there and the lady who found us does not dream about moving anywhere else. She likes the moon-like landscape and when she talked about lava she actually used the ….. “she”.

Our savior explained to us that the lava rocks we were walking on were 3 months old and still cooling off – but apparently they were no longer dangerous. She also walked with us for almost half an hour to show us the trail and on the way we passed old washing machines trapped in the lava since the eighties, a mango tree grove that was swept away three months ago and many other interesting artifacts.

The watching of the actual lava was as amazing as it was scary – as I said earlier, an active volcano is not an easily manageable tourist attraction and watching it from a distance of 50 meters and knowing that there was actually lava flowing under the rock I was walking on, certainly did not add to my comfort level.

The lessons I learnt from this experience are the following:
1. It is Ok to walk on a hot lava rock, as long as there is no steam coming from the cracks.
2. It is hard to decide if I felt more panic or exhilaration while watching the lava flowing. I am probably not a candidate for tornado watching. Marc, you will have to do it alone!
3. After seeing the volcano village I can appreciate more living in Ottawa, where only an occasional earthquake disturbs my daily peace 