Our last day on the Big Island was intended to be chill. We were going to find a nearby beach to just lay down in the sand and read, watch the surfers, and relax! The previous day had been a BIG ONE and we got home late after watching the stars on top of Mauna Kea. So we headed out and did just that — found a beach and sat our butts in the sand. After about an hour or so we started thinking about our afternoon and evening. Owen wanted to revisit downtown and shop some of the cute boutiques for souvenirs and we both wanted to find a beach bar with a view for dinner, drinks, and sunset. I knew parking was a huge problem, so while on the beach I Googled hoping to find a cheap or free workaround…
All of a sudden the first post that came up said the volcano was erupting again. I thought that can’t be right…. maybe it meant before? I did a few quick searches and yep, she was spewing lava again! Owen and I had to decide whether to ditch our chill afternoon plans and drive the 2.5 hours back to Volcano National Park or not. I’m embarrassed to say that I even called Mark to get his opinion. (Which was a resounding YES DRIVE BACK!)
So we quickly went back to the condo, grabbed what we needed, and headed out. Luckily I bought the America the Beautiful pass, making our $30 entry free! When we got there, a small line of cars were backed up trying to get in. They said since the volcano had JUST started going again and it was a Thursday, we were probably going to get ideal conditions. The weekend would be much busier!
We first went to the steam vent area because we knew that would provide a good view of the eruption. As soon as we parked the car and got out, we could hear the rhythmic ‘whooshing’ of the volcano. It reminded me of getting to Grammy and Grandpa’s beach when the waves are high. You can’t see them yet, but you can hear them hitting the shore. We walked up to the viewing area and could see the volcano, but it was a bit farther away than we had hoped. After a few minutes there, we hopped back in the car and drove around to the other side where a park ranger had told us about another, closer spot. We had to walk a mile up a deserted road, but it was worth it!
Once we got there, we joined the group looking over the roped-off area and could clearly see the two sides of the volcano erupting. It was so beautiful! The lava just kept splashing up and out, spraying droplets everywhere. We hear the roar of the volcano even more from here too. Eventually we walked further down the road and quietly joined a handful of people viewing from another area. We weren’t sure whether we were allowed to be there, so even though we had hoped to go back to the car for dinner and to wait for nightfall, we decided to just sit down and wait it out.
But…. we were right. We were NOT supposed to be there and park rangers soon found us and kicked us out. So we walked the mile back and grabbed some protein bars and some jackets and headed back to wait for it to get darker. The nighttime display was even better than the day! Not only could we see the lava shooting up, but we could see the ‘rivers’ of lava flowing on the ground surrounding the two eruptions. At one point a girl had us all hold our hands up so she could snap a cool pic — then she texted it to us all. Very cool group of people and an amazing experience!
In the end we had to force ourselves to leave, primarily because we knew there was such a long drive back. As we walked down the abandoned road, we’d turn around every few minutes and look at the glowing sky. It was eery and gorgeous!
