The last I heard, HVO has asked the public to not visit this site because it is not safe...
The current flow is really out in the middle of a forest & lava flow area, about 8 miles from any paved road & not on OR near any established trails.
Many people got lost when the flow was on fairly open lava fields, sometimes even when traversing marked trails...
To get to this flow is through some dense rainforest & very rugged lava flows.
If you decide to go, expect that you will trip on knife sharp lava, your leather gloves & your boots will get cut up, you may very likely get lost & prepare to have enough water & provisions for that scenerio (this is happening with some of the people that have been doing this for years right now, it could happen to you!) Plus be aware that the VOG has been chokingly intense on many days...
Access has been very limited for the geology students at the university...thesis only type work that I know of, none of the traverse to see it stuff of the last few years.
To give you an idea of the remoteness,
check out the map:
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/maps.html
Edited by - carey on 11/16/2007 15:27:55