The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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The Kilauea Caldera at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park began erupting again on September 29, 2021. Our visit to the park and Volcano House was scheduled for October 3 through October 6, so we were lucky to see some of the activity from our temporary Hawaiian backyard. Here are some images of a small section of the park, it’s huge, about 505 square miles in area.
Sulphur Banks Trail is a short 0.7 mi path near the visitor’s center, through actively steaming vents. At one time in the lodge history, some of the safer vents were enclosed by wooden boxes and guests could take a steam bath. The hotel staff were known to leave the more difficult guests in the baths a little longer than optimal.
The “Chain of Craters Road” starts at the southern end of the Kilauea Caldera and ends at the ocean. It’s 38 miles roundtrip and descends from about 3900 feet to sea level. There are about a dozen scenic stops to view craters and landscapes. The air temperature increased from about 70f to 90f as we descended.
The Landscapes around the Kilauea Caldera were extremely variable, from desert-like to tropical rainforest.
Part of Crater Rim Drive was destroyed during the 2018 eruption. The “Old Crater Rim Drive” trail 1.0 mi) leads to the edge of the caldera and is a great place to view the lava. It’s closed to traffic. If you have the sound on, you can hear the wind. It was very hard to hold my camera still.
I’ll bet many Bucketeers have visited Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. If you have, please be sure to add your comments and images. If you haven’t, I’d highly recommend it. There are trails for all levels of ability.
And as always, what’s happening in your backyard?