Our trip to Hawaii had been planned way back in August. By then, the activity at Kilauea had settled down.,but we still figured we'd spend a couple of nighttimes there in the hope that it might be doing something. So it was a pleasant surprise to have Mauna Loa start erupting on 27 November, less than three days before our arrival.
01 December
The morning of 01 December we headed out around 02:00 from Kona, for the Saddle Road, not knowing what to expect. As we approached the junction of the western end of the Saddle Road, we could see red glow off to the east.
We did know that the shoulders of the road had been closed to stopping along much of the top where the visibility was best. We arrived at the Mauna Kea Recreation Rest Area where there were a number of people watching the eruption. There was enough of a view that we didn't leave until after sunrise. During the night there was a steady stream of people stopping for a quick look, then moving on. I am guessing that a lot of them were tourist heading to one of the airports for an early morning flight on the other side of the island from where they were staying. Many people dressed in shorts and light jackets, while at that altitude (6500ft) it was decidedly cool.
After sunrise, we proceeded onward to find better places for observations. Did notice a bunch of cars pulled off at the junction of the Old Saddle Road and the highway, just west of the Puuhuluhulu trailhead. That junction looked like a possible viewing site, as did the trailhead. Didn't stick around, though, but drove on up to the Mauna Kea visitor center at 9200ft.
From that location there was a nice view across the saddle of the smoke from the main eruptive vent, Fissure 3. There was also some evidence of red glow along the lava stream coming down the mountain. Was probably another good view in the dark.
When we picked up our rental, we were offered the opportunity to upgrade to a Jeep at no cost. Normally renting a Jeep would have added several hundred dollars, and we probably wouldn't have put it to enough use to justify the expense. But here the only drawback would be lower gas mileage, so we took the opportunity. Now we were about to put that opportunity to use. In order to drive to the top of Mauna Kea, a four-wheel drive vehicle is required. It's not because the road is gravel much of the way, but because it's extremely steep and possibly icy. The paved section coming down from the Visitor Center has a sign with "17% grade" on it, and the road above is probably steeper. Low gears are required. That also helps filter out much the tourist traffic.
As it was, the road was closed because it had snowed the previous day, and the authorities wanted to check the road for icy conditions before opening. But we didn't have to wait long before we were on our way up.
It's a long, slow drive, and the view is impressive. You don't really see the telescopes until you are near the summit area, because you are just too close and it's that steep.
We spent several hours up there. There was still snow piled up where it had been plowed. It was clear up there, because we were well about the cloud layer, especially the clouds coming from the east that covered Hilo. There was little wind. Haleakela on Maui was a huge mass below us to the west. Most of the time, we had the area to ourselves. There were a few vehicles parked at the observatories, and a few people there going about there business. Several times people drove up, snapped a selfie or two, then headed back down. In one case I don't think they even bothered to get out of the truck.
By the time we left, I was starting to notice the elevation (just under 14,000 feet), despite having been in Denver only 24 hours earlier. Definitely did not want to do the short hike over to the actual summit. The drive down was no worse than the drive up. At the bottom, they will do brake checks and make people wait until they cool down a bit. Ours were just under the limit, which was surprising as I wasn't using them much.
Back on the Saddle Road, we noticed a lot of activity along the road as we headed back to the west. The Old Saddle Road jct was being coned off with lots of flashing lights from official vehicles.
We learned about what was going on when we got back. Turns out the authorities were in the process of turning the old Saddle Road into an observation area. From the junction across from the rest area to that exit junction was about 5.5 miles long. It was now one-way, to the east looking at the lava flow, with a low speed limit where the right lane was for parking/observing and the left for travel.
02 December
Headed out again in the middle of the night. When we got to the Rest Area, we took the side road to see what was it was like. There wasn't much view for the first couple of miles. The best views were in the last mile or so. The lava flow all the way down from the fissure was visible, but the base of the fissure was hidden by topography. We didn't stop, but headed on back up to the visitor center. All along the lower part of the Mauna Kea Access Road people had pulled over to the side to watch the activity. Higher up, there were groups of vehicles at various turnouts, too.
From the visitor center, we hiked to the top of Puu Kalepeamoa, a cinder code just across the road that rises up an additional 200 ft. The view from there was ideal. The activity from the fissure was visible, as well as the full length of the lava flow. It was a bit breezy, not surprising considering how exposed the area is.
03 December
Another middle of the night observation. This time we only went up the Mauna Kea access road to the Mana Rd junction, the last place with a view on the lower part of the road. Going down the slope slightly got us away from the Canadian expounding on his experiences with heating with wood stoves, and from from all the lights of the selfie takers. Sitting on that slope we had a wonderful view of the full extent of the lava river, along with the lights of the vehicles moving along the roads. It looked like we could see the lava flowing down the channel at various bright spots.
04 December
Changed accommodations over to Volcano, so we went to the Kilauea overlook in the early morning hours. That was something we had done on the previous trip, and was planned for before the Mauna Load eruption started. Arrived around 03:00 to a diminishing crowd. Unfortunately, the last two people to leave took a half hour trying for the perfect selfies with both eruptions in the background. (Is that the point of the automated cameras and their annoying countdown beeping?) They had their stuff spread out all over the place before we arrived, and as they gathered it all up, discovered a lens cap got lost. Moving their stuff was "totally disrespectful, as we are locals." Spent the next ten minutes looking all over bare, rocky ground for it. For about twenty minutes after they finally left, we had the area to ourselves before people starting showing up for sunrise. A much quieter, less well lit, and less self-absorbed crowd.
Mauna Loa was the more interesting of the two eruptions. We could see variations on the fountaining which caused various parts of the fissure to brighten on occasion, Kilauea had quieted down. There was some convection in the lava lake, but unlike last March, there wasn't any activity along the edges, or much changing in the cracks and fissures. There was there any evidence of movement. Because of the overcast, there wasn't much to see in the actual sunrise.
06 December
We tried the Mana Rd. Junction again, but was clouded out. So we went on to the Visitor center, and hiked to the top of Puu Kalepeamoa again, and stayed until sunrise. It was very windy up there, but fortunately it was bearable just downslope on the leeward side.
07 December
We went out to Kilauea for the sunset. The activity down in the crater was even less than the previous visit, but the fountaining from Mauna Loa was easily visible from there. I was surprised how many people left before it became truly dark and the glow from the eruptions were fully visible.
08 December
This was the day we had to vacate our Volcano accommodations and head back to Kona. So we didn't get within view until early morning. The drive up was cloudy with misting rain, and we didn't see any activity until we arrived at the Mauna Kea visitor center. From there we could see increased fountaining, with the clouds occasionally obscuring the view. We only saw a hint of red, but the plume was nicely silhouetted against the sky. From 15 miles away, it looked huge, well over 400 feet high. (Which would make it the tallest eruptive activity I've seen.) At times, the plume looked like a geyser similar to Daisy or Riverside, as not only was it going continuously, but it was also tilted. The tilting varied as we watched, but most of the time it was to the west/right.
09 December
Based on the activity the day before, we expected the eruption might be nearing an end. When we left from Kona, there was little activity showing on the webcams. By the time we arrived at the Mauna Kea visitor center at dawn, it was obvious that the activity had decreased dramatically.
This turned out to be our last visit. By the time we returned to our accommodations, the webcam was showing no lava fountaining, just a vigorous smoke plume from a vent hidden behind the cinder cone. The next morning, there was so little activity visible we decided to not make the hour long drive.
10-12 December
Not only were things quieting, but before we got on the plane to head home, the USGS declared both eruptions to be over. So our timing for a trip that we planned back in August was almost perfect. We missed the initial first couple of days activity, but that was about it.
We also put the four-wheel drive of our Jeep upgrade to one other use, that of visiting the Green Sand Beach near the South Point. Only a couple of miles, but the way there alternates between rough track over lava to deep ruts in the sand. (At some points, we drove though a rutted, sandy section where to original ground surface was higher than the vehicle.) Did get a bit confused by the maze of trails at one point, and probably didn't take the easiest route at times. The green sand is really that, fine grains of dark green olivine with hints of pyrite. Was almost tempted to take a sample.
We never were able to get up close to the volcanic activity. The front of the lava flow never got closer than a couple of miles from the Old Saddle Road. The Mana Jct. viewpoint was about ten miles from the erupting fissure, and the Visitor Center a couple of miles even farther.
But this wasn't surprising. There was only one rough road up most of the way to Mauna Loa, and it was blocked off by the initial lava flows. Much of that area is an active US Army base, with notices along the highway to stay out due to unexploded ordnance. One morning the view road got closed for several hours after some people who wandered off the road into the lava fields discovered and reported an unexploded smoke grenade.
The county civil defense authority seemed to manage things well. I was afraid that access would be heavily restricted, so the opening of the viewing road was welcomed, even if we never really used it. Only on the last day was parking along the Mauna Kea Access road restricted, with orange cones all along the road up to Mana Rd. Jct. The rationale was "extreme fire hazard", which seemed odd considering most mornings we experience dew in that area.
