When Puʻu ʻŌʻō decided to erupt, many towns were forced to abandon as hundreds of homes and homes turned into lava rock. This crazy thought was a reality and serves as a reminder of how brutal mother nature can be. A visit to the end of route 130 shows the trail of destruction as parts of the highway is now lava rock and only a couple of buildings remain in the area. The drive goes on for a while which really demonstrates how far spread the damage was done. See the video below to see the destruction and the walk out to the lookout point.
At the end of the drive is a walk down to the coast a safe distance away from lava flowing into the ocean. Unfortunately from April 2010, the lava has changed direction from the the erupting Puʻu ʻŌʻō and is not flowing into the ocean anymore but is likely to link back up to the old lava flow so it’s one to note for future vacations. We were lucky enough to catch the super red lava flow into the ocean which can only be seen as the light fades to dark. During the day it just looks like smoke. Good footwear is a great idea because the path is rocky and uneven. Lava makes some strange patterns, some of which look like dinosaur fossils which means that a good torch is also necessary to ensure that your fossils don’t end up there! It’s pitch black at night and the walk is a lot longer than it appeared on the way out during the light of day. If lava does flow into the ocean again in the future then a sunset visit is well worth the effort as seen in the video below.
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