VIDEO: Hike in Kilauea Iki Crater - Hawaii

**SteelerNation** · 03-11-2012, 10:04

My brother-in-law and I had the opportunity to hike through the Kilauea Iki Crater in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Walking on an active volcano in the middle of a rain forest was, needless to say, a special trip.

Thanks to Roger for coming along and I hope that you enjoy the video!

SN

**G...Hawk** · 03-11-2012, 21:07

Thank you for the trip.

Quite different than the eastern coast of the continent and the AT.

G

.

**Bruciehi5** · 03-12-2012, 01:23

Loved the big dramatic history lesson at the beginning! I thought only scientists got to walk around in and on volcanos – I thought wrong. Absolutely fascinating! There are trees growing in there too, little redy orange laver flows as well. I was sitting here with my mouth open and fully amazed. Good to see Roger take charge of the camera, he’s a natural! Best you get him into hammocking, if he’s not already. Yesterday I watched a another well constructed video about a near death canoe trip. Today I get to kind of walk around in a volcano. I bet you won’t get this kind of thing on any other internet forum. Hammock Forums is the best! Oh, and, thanks for the video, SteelerNation, it was amazing!

Three questions:

Was it hot in there (didn't seem to be)?
Did it smell in there?
Did you stick the tip of your boot in some liquid hot magma?

**Veto 65** · 03-12-2012, 04:22

Great trip report and history lesson. Thanks for sharing.

**SteelerNation** · 03-12-2012, 12:32

Originally Posted by G...Hawk

Thank you for the trip.

Quite different than the eastern coast of the continent and the AT.

No doubt about that!! The mountains were very steep and the lava fields were literally out of this world!

Originally Posted by Bruciehi5

Loved the big dramatic history lesson at the beginning! I thought only scientists got to walk around in and on volcanos – I thought wrong. Absolutely fascinating! There are trees growing in there too, little redy orange laver flows as well. I was sitting here with my mouth open and fully amazed. Good to see Roger take charge of the camera, he’s a natural! Best you get him into hammocking, if he’s not already. Yesterday I watched a another well constructed video about a near death canoe trip. Today I get to kind of walk around in a volcano. I bet you won’t get this kind of thing on any other internet forum. Hammock Forums is the best! Oh, and, thanks for the video, SteelerNation, it was amazing!

Three questions:

Was it hot in there (didn't seem to be)?
Did it smell in there?
Did you stick the tip of your boot in some liquid hot magma?

Thanks! Walking through the volcano crater was absolutely amazing and Roger is the best! He lives in another part of the country, so probably won't get him out backpacking with me for a while, but we shall see. . .

The main Kilauea crater actually has a hiking route through it as well, but when the volcano began erupting again in 2010, a section of the park was closed to non-scientists for obvious safety reasons. Kilauea Iki is a smaller crater on the upwind side of the existing eruption and remains open.

No, it wasn't hot in there and the ambient air temps were in the 50's (the elevation there is about 4000 feet). It rains a lot there as it is on the rainy side of the island. The isolated steam vents did have a sulfur smell, but not nearly as strong as the smells in Yellowstone. Needless to say, I avoided the hot magma

You are right to say that this forum definitely rocks!! I've learned so much here!

Originally Posted by Veto 65

Great trip report and history lesson. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! Looking at the information on volcanoes was interesting, but actually walking in one put it in a whole new perspective! It was really cool to walk through the crater and guess at what happened based what I saw. When I got home, I found some photos of the eruption which confirmed my guesses.

Very Cool!

SN

**Bruciehi5** · 03-12-2012, 14:05

Thanks for answering my three questions, SteelerNation, and with great detail too – very interesting! Doing that walk was one of the greatest ideas you have ever had, thanks for filming it!

**SteelerNation** · 03-12-2012, 21:14

Originally Posted by Bruciehi5

Thanks for answering my three questions, SteelerNation, and with great detail too – very interesting! Doing that walk was one of the greatest ideas you have ever had, thanks for filming it!

My pleasure! Finishing up the video on another hike from there that I'm getting ready to post up shortly.

SN

**SteelerNation** · 03-12-2012, 23:53

If anyone is interested, here is also a video that I shot of my dive on the big island. Not HD, but still fun.

SN

**sswens** · 03-14-2012, 13:52

sweet a twofer great hike now to the diving video

**Bruciehi5** · 03-15-2012, 01:08

I bet that water was nice and warm. It looks like that reef has a nasty case of bleaching.The Great Barrier Reef, just north of here, is starting to look like that in places too. Diving is like going to another planet. The camera did a good job.