Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Crater Rim Dr, behind Jaggar Museum)
The original Halema'uma'u Overlook was accessed
from a parking area off Crater Rim Drive. That section of road has now been closed since
2008. Consequently, the patio behind the Jaggar Museum, which offers the next best
vantage point, has become the new viewpoint. Don't worry, it is still extraordinary.
Indeed, while there are lots of great sights in HAVO, this is the one that will stay with
you the longest. There is really nothing quite like watching a huge smoking crater. It's
mesmerizing.
Halema'uma'u is really a crater within a crater, the Kilauea Caldera. About 3000ft
across and nearly 300ft deep, it is spewing out about 3000 metric tons of ash per day, a
rising column that emerges from the great hole and billows into the sky, partly creating
the vog that increasingly carpets the island (Kilauea's Pu'u 'O'o vent adds the rest). You
should come here twice, once during the day and once at night, to watch 'the glow,' as it
is known locally. The latter has become a kind of pilgrimage, and you won't understand
why until you make it: standing there, watching the light flickering from the bowels of
the Earth, finally explains the idea of Pele. It is as if there is something alive in that hole.
Honest.
On the scientific side, you'll be watching the longest continuous eruption in the crater
since 1924. It began on March 18, 2008, when a huge steam-driven explosion shattered a
quarter-century of silence, scattering rocks and Pele's hair (strands of volcanic glass)
over 75 acres. A series of explosions followed, widening the vent, which has continued
to spew a muscular column of smoke ever since. Today the lava bubbles are pretty tame,
but it was not always thus, and could easily change again - for better or worse.
All of the Big Island is Pele's territory, but Halema'uma'u is her home. Ceremonial
hula is performed in her honor on the crater rim, and you'll see flower lei and other offer-
ings as you venture through the park, although this practice is widely frowned upon.
Then again, perhaps that's why the vog persists...
Kilauea Iki Crater
VIEWPOINT
MAP
(Little Kilauea)
When Kilauea Iki burst open in a fiery inferno in November 1959, the
whole crater floor turned into a bubbling lake of molten lava. Its fountains reached re-
cord heights of 1900ft, lighting the evening sky with a bright orange glow for miles
around. At its peak it gushed out 2 million tons of lava per hour.
An overlook provides an awesome view of the mile-wide crater, and the hike across its
hardened surface is the park's most popular. One good strategy for visiting this often
