Lava Flows and Haircuts
On most of my adventures, no coyote falls from the sky.
Life on the most active volcano on the planet has its wonders and its hazards. All of the Hawaiian Islands have a volcanic origin. The farthest north are the oldest, and the Big Island is the youngest, and the Puna district on its Southeast flank is still being born and is erupting today.
I lived in Hilo and Puna about 10 years between the years of 1975 and 1988, and witnessed innumerable eruptions from far away and from right up close. It can be a spectacular event and Island people know to jump in their cars and where to go. Not to escape, but to race to a viewing spot, depending on what kind of eruption it is. The most dramatic display was when an eruption would happen within the main crater's caldera, Halemaumau, and begin to spew forth along a crack in bottom of the fire pit producing a "Curtain of Fire"; a row of glowing molten lava fountains, 100 feet tall. You could catch a view of this phenomenon from vantage points along the aptly named Crater Rim Drive in Volcano National Park, and have a few hours of viewing before the fountains would die down and make the floor of the pit into a red lava lake.
Sometimes an eruption would start out at the summit in Halemaumau, and then die down only to break out on its flank down toward Puna, and flow along the landscape. In that case you might find a spot where you could actually walk out on the freshly cooled lava and see the still red glow through the cracks. Safety tip: when the bottoms of your shoes start to smolder, you should probably turn back.
A few chapters back, in 1978, I witnessed the birth of Allison's son, Ace, in Hilo. By 1982 she had a new husband, Craig, and they were living at the very top of Royal Gardens above Kalapana. That subdivision was built on the face of the pali, with impossibly steep streets bulldozed right straight up through the ohi'a forest. Allison was an old friend and also my barber. By then she had given birth to another son who was 1 year old and just learning to walk. Ace was now five, and his older brother Gulliver, was nine.
In 1974, an eruption had broken out in the main caldera in Halemaumau. It sent a flow that cascaded over the pali and down toward the ocean wiping out a section of the Chain of Craters Road a few miles south of Royal Gardens. Soon the national park crews were able to bulldoze a road over and through the cooled flow and surface it with gravel. They had done this kind of thing many times before.
January 3, 1983 a different kind of eruption began. This one lasted the next 35 years. It broke out along a fissure about 4 miles above Allison's place in Royal Gardens. The largest vent would deliver a singular 1200-foot high fountain of molten lava about once a month for years to come. Johnny and I could see it from the back road of our Ainaloa house, just 7 miles away in the opposite direction. It was named Pu'u O'o. We could see the fountain and hear its roaring. Over a few days the fountaining would get shorter and shorter and finally die out. In the process, it had built a growing cinder cone around itself that would pond up and overflow, sending flows down toward populated areas of Kalapana.
Allison and her brood had received orders to evacuate twice, and each time returned home when the threat died down. The third time, they were more lackadaisical about gathering up their belongings, but this was the time when the flow reached the subdivision and incinerated everything they owned. On March 2, they had the distinction of fleeing the first house to be consumed.
By July 1986, they had moved into a house at the bottom of Royal Gardens and became the 50th house to be destroyed.
How this all affected me was that whenever the lava flows cut off Royal Gardens from the rest of Puna, It would require me to drive to Kea'au, all the way up to Volcano, down the Chain of Craters Road and to reach Allison's house from the south side, and all the way back again, a round trip of 90 miles, just to get a haircut.
The disaster was that I periodically looked like hell until the road was cut through the lava flow again, and I could once again get a proper Allison haircut.
Copyright © 2022 John Oliver
All Rights Reserved
mail@unclejohnsweb.com
Life on the most active volcano on the planet has its wonders and its hazards. All of the Hawaiian Islands have a volcanic origin. The farthest north are the oldest, and the Big Island is the youngest, and the Puna district on its Southeast flank is still being born and is erupting today.
I lived in Hilo and Puna about 10 years between the years of 1975 and 1988, and witnessed innumerable eruptions from far away and from right up close. It can be a spectacular event and Island people know to jump in their cars and where to go. Not to escape, but to race to a viewing spot, depending on what kind of eruption it is. The most dramatic display was when an eruption would happen within the main crater's caldera, Halemaumau, and begin to spew forth along a crack in bottom of the fire pit producing a "Curtain of Fire"; a row of glowing molten lava fountains, 100 feet tall. You could catch a view of this phenomenon from vantage points along the aptly named Crater Rim Drive in Volcano National Park, and have a few hours of viewing before the fountains would die down and make the floor of the pit into a red lava lake.
Sometimes an eruption would start out at the summit in Halemaumau, and then die down only to break out on its flank down toward Puna, and flow along the landscape. In that case you might find a spot where you could actually walk out on the freshly cooled lava and see the still red glow through the cracks. Safety tip: when the bottoms of your shoes start to smolder, you should probably turn back.
A few chapters back, in 1978, I witnessed the birth of Allison's son, Ace, in Hilo. By 1982 she had a new husband, Craig, and they were living at the very top of Royal Gardens above Kalapana. That subdivision was built on the face of the pali, with impossibly steep streets bulldozed right straight up through the ohi'a forest. Allison was an old friend and also my barber. By then she had given birth to another son who was 1 year old and just learning to walk. Ace was now five, and his older brother Gulliver, was nine.
In 1974, an eruption had broken out in the main caldera in Halemaumau. It sent a flow that cascaded over the pali and down toward the ocean wiping out a section of the Chain of Craters Road a few miles south of Royal Gardens. Soon the national park crews were able to bulldoze a road over and through the cooled flow and surface it with gravel. They had done this kind of thing many times before.
January 3, 1983 a different kind of eruption began. This one lasted the next 35 years. It broke out along a fissure about 4 miles above Allison's place in Royal Gardens. The largest vent would deliver a singular 1200-foot high fountain of molten lava about once a month for years to come. Johnny and I could see it from the back road of our Ainaloa house, just 7 miles away in the opposite direction. It was named Pu'u O'o. We could see the fountain and hear its roaring. Over a few days the fountaining would get shorter and shorter and finally die out. In the process, it had built a growing cinder cone around itself that would pond up and overflow, sending flows down toward populated areas of Kalapana.
Allison and her brood had received orders to evacuate twice, and each time returned home when the threat died down. The third time, they were more lackadaisical about gathering up their belongings, but this was the time when the flow reached the subdivision and incinerated everything they owned. On March 2, they had the distinction of fleeing the first house to be consumed.
By July 1986, they had moved into a house at the bottom of Royal Gardens and became the 50th house to be destroyed.
How this all affected me was that whenever the lava flows cut off Royal Gardens from the rest of Puna, It would require me to drive to Kea'au, all the way up to Volcano, down the Chain of Craters Road and to reach Allison's house from the south side, and all the way back again, a round trip of 90 miles, just to get a haircut.
The disaster was that I periodically looked like hell until the road was cut through the lava flow again, and I could once again get a proper Allison haircut.
Copyright © 2022 John Oliver
All Rights Reserved
mail@unclejohnsweb.com
All Rights Reserved
mail@unclejohnsweb.com