Conditions ‘nauseating’ HILO >> Despite beautiful photos taken periodically of brilliantly glowing lava oozing into a sparkling sea, Mother Nature sometimes reminds people that lava can be really nasty.
at Big Isle
lava-view site
The number of visitors drops dramatically
as nature shows its ugly downsideBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comDuring the last few days, conditions at the end of Chain of Craters Road have been "absolutely nauseating" at times, said Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ranger Mardie Lane.
The situation at the park's prime lava-viewing spot got bad starting about 4 p.m. Wednesday when a narrow finger of lava crossed the very end of the road, setting asphalt on fire.
The smell is not one of the park's better attractions.
"It's noxious," Lane said.
Mixed with that was steam loaded with hydrochloric acid, produced when lava hits the salt in sea water.
Meanwhile, inland from the ocean entry, where lava covered ground with pockets of vegetation, methane gas was being generated underground. Periodically the gas explodes.
"The earth rips open. Rocks are hurled. Visitors are reporting they're being knocked off their feet. It's serious," Lane said. "This is one time when you don't want to be on top of the situation," she added, tongue in cheek.
The only thing missing is smoke from brush fires, which the park also has had at times.
This foul combination of conditions continued periodically yesterday. The number of visitors had already dropped to 600 on Wednesday after previous highs of 3,000 per day.
You might think rangers would try to keep visitors entirely out of the area.
Not so, although they do move them back from the asphalt fumes when the stench gets nauseating.
"It's really dedicated rangers trying to make sure they get people as close as safely possible," Lane said. "Usually, we try to get people up on the newer lava flows."
Methane explosions do not take place there. But that does mean visitors are walking on still-hot lava only a few days old.
"At times you do smell rubber burning, and it's your sneakers," Lane said. "Move to a cooler spot."
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory