Celebrating National Parks - Aloha Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island

2016 is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. There is one national park with an active volcano, Kilauea, home of Pele from Hawaiian mythology.  Above is the Kilauea Caldera .... 

.... with the Halemaʻumaʻu crater blowing off steam!

Madame Pele, the Volcano Goddess, is both feared and revered.  Her portrait hangs inside the Jaggar Museum in the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (link).

Pele produces two kinds of lava. Above is A'a lava that is difficult to walk over. Perhaps it is Pele's revenge.

This is Pahoehoe lava that can flow up or down hill. It is easier to walk across.

Pele's temper produces two types of sand - green and black.

Outside the Jaggar Museum, I found a "rainwater" station, "captured from the clouds, filtered by the sand, pumped here by solar." You can't get much "greener" than that!

We walked along the caldera rim to see it from different angles.

We discovered the vents where rainwater turns to steam when it seeps into Kilauea's caldera.

I welcome your comments about Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.  One randomly selected commenter from this week's blogs wins a book choice from my convention stash.  Comments are open through Saturday, January 23, 10 pm in Baltimore. I'll post the winner on Sunday, January 24.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

The pictures above are mine during the day .... and I found one fabulous photo at twilight to demonstrate the awe of Pele:

Dave from traveldave.com gave me permission to publish this image. It truly captures the essence of Pele - she is present even if you cannot see her during the day. You can find this image and others on his blog at this link. Mahalo, Dave!