{"id":510,"date":"2026-03-09T12:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/?p=510"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:50:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:50:47","slug":"the-eruption-episodes-of-a-life-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/the-eruption-episodes-of-a-life-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eruption Episodes of a Life Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CJ, Linda and I have been blessed with over a year of fairly regular eruptions at Halema’uma’u. \u00a0Starting in December of 2024 and continuing to this day, the Kilauea volcano has erupted about every two weeks. \u00a0And these are not your run-of-the-mill eruptions. \u00a0Several of them have been over 1000 feet in the air…one was estimated at 1600 feet and often there are two vents going hundreds of feet each at the same time. \u00a0It continues to be the episodes of a life time for us…and for thousands of others who have sat on the rim and enjoyed the show.<\/p>\n

It is not just the size and frequency that have made these episodes unique. \u00a0The caldera is actually filling up with lava. \u00a0There is a huge mound of material from the vents that is just behind the vents and toward the sea from where the Jagger Museum once stood (it is now gone…done in by a huge eruption and earthquake…a viewing area remains). \u00a0For the only time in my lava life, I was uncomfortably warm one night while shooting…some half mile or more from the vents. \u00a0The heat was from the lava that had flowed out over the floor all the way to directly underneath our viewing area. \u00a0Instead of the normal 50 degree night, it felt like 80 degrees…a very odd feeling.<\/p>\n

Oh, and then there was the volcanic hail storm. \u00a0I got caught in it in the middle of the night. \u00a0The fountain was maybe 1500 feet and the lava particles…tephra, Pele’s Hair and \u00a0reticulite rained down on my brand new pickup truck like a hail storm. \u00a0There were pieces of reticulite the size of watermelons hitting my car. \u00a0Cars were running off the road and spinning out on the slick silica that was hitting the highway. \u00a0I was in it for 20 minutes and it was just plain scary. \u00a0Did damage to my windshield, paint job and nerves. \u00a0I got to tell me story on ABC and NBC, because I had dash cam video of it and because one huge piece stuck between the cab of my pickup and the pick up part…and I got to show that on TV along with my story.<\/p>\n

By the way, the huge pieces of reticulite weighed only a few ounces and most broke into small pieces when they hit the car or road. But they were as sharp as broken glass and traveling at good speed when they dropped from thousands of feet in the air (they get pulled up into the sky with the plume, sometimes reaching many miles high). \u00a0Here is the piece that stuck in my truck.<\/p>\n

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CJ, Linda and I are complete partners when it comes to photography, but that doesn’t mean that we can not be competitive with one another. \u00a0CJ could not stand that I had this good story to tell, so he made it out to another episode that made my episode story look tame. \u00a0Volcanic material rained down so hard that they closed the park. \u00a0Peoples got cut. \u00a0Umbrellas got torn. \u00a0Roofs had to be shoveled off. \u00a0Roads had to be cleared. \u00a0It was as big a mess as I have seen since the Puna eruptions. \u00a0I missed that episode and am happy I did.<\/p>\n

Our most recent episode happened mostly in the rain. \u00a0I’ve shot those rain episodes…hard to get a good shot and not a lot of fun. \u00a0We are on standby for the next episode and it looks like it might be in the rain. \u00a0Also, I feel that something is changing in these episodes…not sure what…but each one is a bit different.<\/p>\n

I will do a new blog on how to view the episodes if you are on island…how to photograph them…how to stay safe. \u00a0We have had two locals and a visitor fall into the caldera in the last year or so…two died, including one last week…and one lived because he got impaled on a tree after falling just 30 feet, with hundreds of feet below that tree. \u00a0They saved that guy…a miracle. \u00a0I’ve also noticed that each episode attracts huge crowds…which can overwhelm the National Park staff and, next thing you know, there are dozens of people hanging on the crater rim in places that are WAY out-of-bound. \u00a0Scares the heck out of me when I see it. \u00a0I am amazed there have not been more accidents. \u00a0I am especially concerned by the children I see…seemingly under no ones control…that run up to the edge of crater without any fear or concern. \u00a0Of course, this comes from a 79 year old guy who can be seen on Saturdays yelling at kids to keep off of his lawn.<\/p>\n

We hope you get to see an episode or two in person. \u00a0It is about impossible to nail down the day and time an episode will begin…but they have been going off about every two weeks. \u00a0They last from a few hours to a day or more. \u00a0If you are here and the lava starts to fountain…drop everything and head to the National Park. \u00a0The show will be something you remember for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

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Aloha,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don Hurzeler for CJ, Linda and the rest of the Lava Light Gallery crew of lava fanatics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CJ, Linda and I have been blessed with over a year of fairly regular eruptions at Halema’uma’u. \u00a0Starting in December of 2024 and continuing to this day, the Kilauea volcano has erupted about every two weeks. \u00a0And these are not your run-of-the-mill eruptions. \u00a0Several of them have been over 1000 feet in the air…one was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":516,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavalightgalleries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}