Tag Archives: Volcano

I have a Volcano On My Mind

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Old Faithful Erupts

Old Faithful

I want to see a Volcano

After all, I just visited a super volcano! Yellowstone is an amazing place to visit. Surround yourself with geysers, steam vents, boiling mud and steaming rivers. What you won’t see is lava or magma. In Yellowstone that’s still deep underground. We hope it stays there for a long time. An explosion of a super volcano would be devastating!

But I still want to see a volcano

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Back in 2007 I visited the Big Island of Hawaii. As part of my trip I spent a day in Volcano National Park. We drove through lava fields. We even saw the “VOG” in the distance. Vog is volcanic fog and its loaded with sulfuric acid. Needless to say we didn’t get close. We considered hiking over the lava field to see the glowing lava but the solid lava is like glass. Any little fall causes lots of cuts and bleeding. Right at the start one of our party tripped and fell. Lots of band aids later we all helped her limp off the lava and back to the car.

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Let’s Look from the air

After our mishap on the ground we thought we might be able to see the lava from the air. Our group didn’t want to try a helicopter but they were willing to take a small plane ride. We signed up for the tour of the island. As part of the tour the plane circled the vent with the boiling lava. It didn’t look like much from the air. We only had glimpses of the bright red. A cooler skin of black floated over the glowing lava.

Maybe another chance

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During the intervening years I heard about a boat trip along the shore. They go out at dawn and dusk when the lava flow glowed as it poured into the sea. That was way on top of my to do list. Then last week I checked the eruptions for Kilauea. It’s not flowing into the sea anymore! “Lava flow is still active on the pali and coastal plain, however the ocean entry is currently halted”. I may find my plans “foiled” again. Can’t wait to get there and find out!

Back to Haleakala

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We didn’t make plans for Saturday because Kathy’s plane came in so late. We wanted to give her a chance to rest but we did go to the the resort’s orientation. I thought it would be a good way for Kathy to get up to speed on the things we can choose to do.

But Kathy’s a trouper. She didn’t want to waste a minute. As soon as we finished at the orientation, booking a whole list of events and tours, she suggested a drive to Haleakala. I made sure we had a full tank of gas this time.

Kathy took over the navigating so we didn’t need to use the crazy GPS. (It doesn’t work so well  on the Island)

It was another twisty, turny drive. But the clouds were spectacular this time. When Sandy and I went up the first time it was gray and rainy, but this drive was beautiful with lots of blue sky.

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We made a quick stop at the first visitor center then on to the 2nd. The views were amazing. Kathy kept saying the clouds looked like cotton candy.

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The summit was in reach and the gas gauge was looking good so we hopped back in the car and continued to the top.

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By now we were at 10,000 ft.

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There were stone stairs to cover the last few hundred feet but all 3 of us looked at that and said Oh No! This is good enough! It made my knees hurt just looking at them!

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For any of you that might consider climbing the stairs, there is an observation deck & building when you get to the top.

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Haleakala

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Leaving the Banyan tree behind we started for Paia. But sitting at a stop light we saw a sign for Haleakala National Park. You guessed it…diversion #2. It was about 10:30 am by now and we thought it would be a just a quick side trip. After all, we weren’t going at sunrise or sunset, the 2 most popular times to visit.

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The airport shuttle driver in Albany had told us that we should make the drive because we could see the whole island from the summit and it would be worth it. As we entered the park a sign warned that there was no gas available in the park. I looked at our gas gauge. It was 1/2 full so I figured that should be enough. The sign also said it was 22 miles.

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Haleakala, aka “House of the Sun”, is a dormant volcano that is famous for its sunrise and the people that take the bike tour to see it. They take a van to the summit and after they watch the sunrise they  bike down the mountain.

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The operative word here being “down”. They really fly! All along the road were warning signs to watch for bikers. There were a few hard core bikers that were going up. I guess there are always going to be a few people that have to do it the hard way!

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We made it to the first check point with no problem. Sandy had a National Park Pass so we only had to stop at the gate to pick up our brochure and show the pass. The entrance fee without the pass is $20.00 per vehicle in 2016. The price is scheduled to go up in 2017  to $25.00.

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2nd stop was at the first visitor center.

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Here we made a rest stop and chatted with the rangers. We learned that the park is home to the Nene, the Hawaiian Goose and state bird. There is a pair that lives near the station but they only come out when it rains to play in the puddles. We didn’t see a Nene but we did see some little birds that seemed to be hunkered down.017

Still we were cautioned to drive slowly. We wouldn’t want to be responsible for the loss of a goose when it’s so endangered.

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Gas check…It looks like we’ve used almost 1/4 of our gas. All this uphill driving must be taking a toll.

 

SUPERVOLCANO and The Mis-information Superhighway

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You saw it on YouTube, then Turner Networks and even the local newspapers. Bison are fleeing Yellowstone National Park. Earthquakes are “unzipping” the super volcano caldera!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMSPrHXvyws

Is a mega disaster imminent?

Not likely says Park Spokesman Dan Hottle. The bison are actually running toward the interior of Yellowstone right toward the ancient 55 X 18 mile magma chamber, the location of the past super volcano explosions.

The Video originally posted on March 20 and sparked stories as far away as Australia. Mainstream news outlets picked up the story and the video went viral. By now more than 700,000 people (make that 700,001) have viewed the alleged bison exodus.

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When news of Sunday’s 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the airwaves, Turner Radio Network broadcast ” It appears the super volcano is unzipping !” The earthquake, which was the largest in 34  years, was actually centered north of the caldera boundary. It was generated by a system of fault lines, not magma.

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Yellowstone has thousands of tremors every year. How could it not with geysers exploding and mud flats bubbling.  There have been more than 250 tremors in just the past month. It is business as usual for the geothermal area.

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But just in case the bison are trying to commit a mass suicide Spokesperson Hottle  says he’s  ready. “I’ve got my tent packed and a couple of bags  of microwave popcorn. I’ll be ready!”

Just goes to show you can’t believe everything you see on the internet.

Oh one last comment for our Russian friends…Old Faithful will not burn down. 🙂

( Last year there was a 2 tree fire 8 miles south of Old Faithful. A Russian television station called asking if Old Faithful was going to burn down. )