New Ash Plume at the Summit - Kilauea Volcano going off!

Wow, Kilauea is turning a lot of heads these days. First, the new easily-viewable flows down by the ocean and now Halemaumau Crater at the summit is smoking! Amazing! For those of you who have been to the park before, this is the crater within a crater that is across from Kilauea Military Camp and seen best from Jaggar Museum. Halemaumau hasn't done this in almost 100 years! How fascinating (and a little scary) to think that this crater could start shooting lava miles into the air at any time! A few thousand people live within a few miles all around.

So, according to the local news, a few days ago the crater had a little "hiccup", shooting rocks in all directions. And since the day before yesterday, some lava is actually coming out, although it's not easily viewable.

My son and I went up yesterday afternoon and this is what we saw.

It was really cool. The road is closed after KMC because the fumes are deadly so getting to the Jaggar museum is impossible. We looked at it from the steam vents. As we drove into the parking area we could see the ash plume looming miles up in the sky. It was really neat to look at. We walked the short path to the viewing area and although you can't see lava from there, it was still very cool.

Next week is the Merrie Monarch festival, and it usually starts with a ceremony at the edge of that crater - about 50 feet from where that great ash plume starts. While we were there a group of hula dancers showed up where we were to apparently start the ceremony there instead. Double cool!

So, to recap, the lava is still flowing down at the Puna-side access road, and now, within the park is this great plume of ash and lava .. and who knows what will happen next!

New Lava Access Road - How to Get to the Lava

So, my son and I took a trip out to the lava flow yesterday. It is indeed located where the old barricades on Hwy 130 are. Just head into Puna on Highway 130, go past Pahoa, go past all the subdivisions, and DON'T turn left where it says Kalapana, instead continue straight to the "end of the road".

There were hundreds of cars and thousands of people. We gave four people a ride in and 2 people a ride out. Apparently the line was so bad at 2 p.m. when they opened that most people just parked on the side of the road and hiked in. I would NOT recommend this as it's 2.2 miles to get to the end of the road and another 2 miles in and out if the lava is doing it's thing far away.

The road is narrow, but smooth. There were 6 or 7 police, dozens of public works workers, and a few National Park Rangers. I have to hand it to the county - they did a really good job.

On the way, we passed two electronic road signs that both said "No active flows visible. Lava not entering the ocean". We went anyway, and luckily we saw both active flows and ocean entry! The lava can do anything at any time! :)

I took my almost-5-year-old out and he loved it. I saw babies and kids and quite old people. The walk out was challenging - there is no trail so it's on very bumpy, crumbly old lava. The nice thing about entering from the Puna side of the flow is there were no fumes - they were all blowing the other way with the trade winds.

Lava has Reached the Sea Again - Here's How to See It!

Lava covering the OLD access road on the Puna side of the flow.

Ok, lava has hit the sea again! Woohoo! All that worrying didn't even draw it across Hwy 130 and to Leilani. ;)

So, the county, just today, has re-opened the old access road because the lava is again on the Kalapana side of the old flows. That means driving up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will net you views of the old craters and the museum and visitors center, but NO LAVA. The way to see the lava currently is to take a helicopter or plane flyover or try to access it via the new access road the county is opening at 2:00 p.m. Today. I say try because the county is much more cautious about keeping access roads open than the National Park is. It's probably much easier to sue Hawaii County than it is the federal government ;) .

So far, I can't find anything online about the access road, but here's the county's lava site they started when it seemed the lava would head across 130.

So, directions to get to the lava access road, I am assuming are the same as they were years ago, the last time the lava headed over to this side: Follow Highway 130 in Puna to the very end - don't make the left to go to Kalapana, just follow it to the barricades and that is where the new road, which is just a gravel, bulldozed road, will start. It should be easy access for all vehicles. If I make a trip out there myself I'll get you personal confirmation of this.

The hours of the new access road appear to be 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily, but you don't have to be out till 10 p.m.