Volcanoes created Hawaii. For 70 million years the earth's crust around Hawaii has been drifting over a volcanic hotspot, creating a long chain of islands that starts at the youngest, Big Island, and trails off to the northwest up by Midway Island.
Each Hawaiian island is the peak of a volcanic mountain many tens of thousands of feet high reaching up from the bottom of the ocean floor and rising above sea level. Then over time, as the crust slid away to the NE over the hotspot, another area of crust would start the process all over again and create another volcanic mountain.
Even today volcanoes are changing and affecting the face of Hawaii. Kiluaea has been actively erupting lava since 1983 and in the process creating hundreds of acres of new Big Island.
Big Island Volcanoes
Big Island's other volcanoes haven't been active but they are not dormant. Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea have been sleeping peacefully, but can not be considered extinct. Quakes and tremors in and around them are only hints at the volcanic processes taking place miles below.
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
This is the place to see the eruptions of Kilauea and the unique landscapes that are formed by young volcanoes. There is nowhere else in the world where a person can get this close to these powerful forces of nature relatively safely, and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has been honored as an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.
The Kilauea Visitors Center and Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is the jumping off point for your visit to the park. It sits near the caldera of the volcano and is the best place to get orientated. There's a 25 minute video presentation to get you acquainted with the park.
Visitors can stay either in the small hotels in Volcano or over in nearby Hilo, which has several large hotels clustered around Banyan Drive on the waterfront.
Visitors Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes National Park (main)
Kiluaea
Kiluaea has been active since 1983 and is the caldera erupting with streams of lava that are often on US news programs. These eruptions, though dangerous, can be witnessed at the park as long as guidelines are followed.
The Hawaiian eruptions are not explosive, like the ones seen in Mount St. Helens or every now and then in South America, due to the very fluid nature of the lava. However, the volcano does emit quantities of gasses, such as carbon dioxide, that visitors have to be alert to.
Kilauea is also the site of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory run by the US Geologic Survey, so that the conditions around the volcano are very closely studied and monitored. The center has all the details of viewing the area, and there are several publications you can read to get up to date.
The current eruptions
Viewing Lava Safely
More Kilauea links
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa (long mountain) is part of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and is to the west of Kilauea. It is dormant and 13,681 feet high.
Mauna Loa weather
Mauna Loa info
Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea (white mountain) is north of Kilauea, toward Hilo, and is the dramatic backdrop to this tropical city. It's 13,792 feet high, dormant, and the site of several important astronomical telescopes.
The earth's atmosphere and "light pollution" from large cities hampers astonomers observations, making the Mauna Kea site the best in the world for viewing the stars and deep space. The air is clean. There's little humidity or windborne particles, and Hilo isn't a teeming metropolis by Mainland standards.
There are some roads up to the top of Mauna Kea from Hilo, and another from Kamuela, but generally not many people venture up them. It's a long exacting journey with no services along the way.
Anyone who wants to see the large telescopes should contact the facilities for permissions and instructions first. And car rental agencies either don't allow or will charge you extra for going up there. Again, check first.
Maui Volcano
Now, if we drift a little to the northwest from Big Island, we'll come to Maui and the volcano Haleakala. Like Mauna Loa and Kea, Haleakala sleeps a deep sleep, but isn't considered extinct, just dormant.
Haleakala
Haleakala is a big park (30,183 acres) and most of it wilderness. It covers the summit and caldera of Haleakala and the slopes of the volcano on the southern and eastern sides. It's also an International Biosphere Reserve because of the ecosystem and rare plants that live on Haleakala.
A popular tradition is to view the sunrise on Haleakala. People can drive themselves up to the summit or there are guided tours. The nighttime drive up a windy mountain road might be a bit much after a day at the beach, so check out your options. Also, the summit is 10,023 feet above sea level. Dress warmly and, if you suspect that the thin cold air could affect your breathing or heart rates, check with your doctor before leaving.
National Park Service :: Haleakala
Haleakala basic info
Haleakala High Altitude Observatory Site
Haleakala Crater Live Camera
Friends of Haleakala
Molokai Volcano (Mauna Loa)
The island of Molokai is the top of two volcanoes of extinct and somewhat ancient vintage. They, their slopes, and surrounding lands are now fairly uniform. They aren't as dramatic as Haleakala or Kilauea, but you can spy their outlines throughout the land. Actually, a trip to Molokai is more about seeing something of an older Hawaiian way of life than these geologic remnants.
A little bit more to the northeast is Molokai, which has two dormant, probably extinct volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Wailau. Actually, at one time the island cluster of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai was one larger island. At some time an eruption caused the land now submerged to sink creating three islands.
Oahu Volcano
Finally, over on Oahu several of the island's best known landmarks are actually volcanic craters. Punchbowl in Honolulu, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, even Pearl Harbor are remnants of the large volcano that created and dominated Oahu, as this portion of the earth's crust hovered over the mid-Pacific hotspot.
Oahu is Hawaii's volcanic past, and Big Island is the present. Today, the Hawaiian volcanoes of the future are slowly at work under the surface of the ocean just to the east of Big Island. The Loihi Seamount is about 15 miles from Kilauea and about 3100 feet below sea level. Estimates are that in about twenty thousand years or so it will be the newest Hawaiian island.
Volcano Mythology
Naturally, the Polynesian settlers of Hawaii understood the power of the volcanoes around them, and they explained them in the only way that they could through story.
Haleakala is the "house of the sun" and it is where the demi-god Maui ensnarred the sun, slowing it down so that it would bring life to the islands.
The Big Island's Kiluaea is the goddess Pele's abode, and she is responsible for the eruptions and lava. Keeping Pele happy, abiding by her wants was the way to keep the volcanoes quiet.
Even today, the folks at the Volcano National Park tell tales of visitors mailing back bits of volcanic rock taken for souveniers. It is bad luck to take from Pele, so the visitors mail them back. Actually, the idea of not taking bits of lava started with some parks service guides so that visitors wouldn't strip the landscape bare, and it has worked.
General Volcano Info
Volcano World
USGS Hazards
General-Interest Publications [Online]
Lava Junkie
more Hawaii Volcano links