Capturing the Moment

  Our group, deep inside a lava tube, looking up at a skylight in the ceiling. Today we visited ancient royal lands, that require special access to get through the gates. When the last of the Hawaiian royal family died, she owned about 12% of the lands throughout the islands. These lands passed into a trust with the goal of educating future Hawaiians in perpetuity. There is one local operator, Hawaii Forest and Trails, that has access to take hiking groups onto this land. It is called the Hidden Craters Hike, and is one of the best hikes you can do in Hawaii. Our day started with a van pickup at Honokohau Harbor, just north of Kona town. A 35 minute drive, strait up the side of Hualalai Volcano, brought us to the start of our hike at 5,000ft. It was a beautiful, clear morning. Everyone got their hiking poles, and some snacks, as we geared up for the four mile loop trail. The trail heads past giant volcanic fissures and craters, and even descends into a lava tube at one point. One o...

 Yellowstone National Park contains a caldera of a supervolcano that measures 35 X 45 miles. All kinds of geothermal activity can be seen here from steam vents, to hot springs, to geysers. It is caused by the movement of the North American Plate slowly sliding over a hot spot...very similar to Hawaii. Driving around Yellowstone and seeing the wildlife mix with the volcanic activity, it is no wonder that it was destined to become our first national park in 1872.   The extreme temperature of water in the geysers and hot springs create a unique environment for colorful extremophiles, bacteria that survive and live in the scalding water. The bacteria can be quite colorful, making the springs very picturesque.Some pools were bright orange while other were a greenish blue, while some had just about every color you could imagine in a bright rainbow array of colors.  Most of my best photos came from an area around the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is the largest hot ...

   How to see the Lava Ocean Entry on the Big Island of Hawaii    One of the best nature spectacles on Earth has just gotten a lot easier to see. Checking the USGS Kilauea Volcano eruption update page show the lava is still entering the ocean. This is something worth seeing. It used to be difficult, and at times illegal, to make your way out across the fresh lava fields to see the active flow cascading over the cliff into the sea. I went two years ago in March, and had to sneak out past the county guards who were there to make sure only those that went out with a tour group gained access (check out that story here ). Now it is a whole different story. Where did this come from!?    Guards are still at the end of the road, where the far reaches of the lava flowed across the town and beautiful black sand beach of Kalapana in the early 1980's. But now the guards are there to help you park, point you to the bike rentals, and remind you to sunscreen up ...