New Photos added to the previous blog

Check out the new photos added to the July 4th hike gallery.
Click here to view the gallery

Lava Flow hike July 4th Weekend

Here are some photos from my latest hike at the active lava flows in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
I went exploring and my main objective was the new channeled A'a flow that was flowing down the Pali's (cliffs, hillside).
The flow was going through the lower section of an old Kipuka (section of forest spared by earlier flows) and burning the trees and brush.
My hike started around 12:30am from the end of Chain of Craters road.
3 hours later I reached the flow.
For those of you thinking of heading out that way, I strongly suggest you don't!
I'm very experienced and the area surrounding the active tube feeding the ocean entry is very unstable!
It's not an area for the novice and faint of heart to be at!

Ok, back to the hike :-)
When I finally arrived the flow was making it's way down the last steep section of the Pali.
So, what would normally be a slow moving A'a flow was actually a sort of fast moving wall of glowing rock. For the unfamiliar, A'a lava sounds like dishes breaking as it moves along.
Very strong trade winds were blowing that night so, the smoke was staying close to the ground.
The photo above is from just before sunrise when the channel was still open. It crusted over shortly after that photo and the flow hit flat uneven ground which slowed it's pace nearly to a standstill.
The photos you will view at the link below show the progression of my night.
From lava flowing around and burning the trees to dawn and my hike back passing by a couple of small but nice skylights.
This is part 1 of my photos for this visit.
I will update soon with my shots of the sea arch and some nice infrared black and whites from the parks other areas.
Click on the link below and enjoy!
View photos here

Da First Blog

I finally have found time to post my first entry

Not much going on with the active lava flow for the last several months.
This has allowed me to pursue many other photo adventures.
My latest series of hikes have been close to home exploring the miles of under ground lava tubes of Hualalai volcano here on the Kailua Kona side.

These are very well preserved lava tubes that are multilevel and they take you into the depths of the island.

Very few know where they are.
That's why I wont show any obvious surface photos :-)
I dragged a friend along for the 8+ hours of mapping the under ground world.
There's plenty of sections that require crawling over nasty A'a lava.

For those of you not familiar with A'a lava, it's like having shards of broken dishes fused into cement.
I always wear old disposable clothes because they shred quickly.
My wimpy/smart friend :-) wears longs pants and knee pads.
The hike ascends/descends depending on what direction you go, over 1000' in elevation.
There's 3 different skylights along the way to remind you where you are.
There are also many sub chambers to explore that require climbing gear to descend into.
It's amazing just how far into these tubes you find wild Goat skeletons.
It's as dark as dark gets down there!
I carry 5 flashlights and extra batteries and 8 hour glow sticks.
There are plenty of sections where the ceiling partially collapsed (when the tube initially drained) that are tough to negotiate.
I've been exploring these tubes on and off for 14 years and I've barely gotten anywhere.
The biggest danger is if we have an earthquake and I get trapped.
I'll have to eat the rest of my fingers :-)
There's always someone who knows when I go on any of my adventures.
Strange things go on down there with cameras.
I've had several different types over the years down there and the flash never seems to work correctly or even photos are lost.
There's one area where cameras won't work at all.
No ancient burial grounds down there so that can't be the reason :-)
Maybe some kind of magnetic field?
Let me get some photos loaded and Aloha until my next adventure.