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My partner and I walked it last night. You can indeed walk right up to the lava crossing the road. It's just over 4 miles walk one-way (from the parking area), so approx. 8 miles round trip. Including an indeterminate amount of time at the flow (who looks at their watch when there's oozing lava to appreciate ?), we were out for about 4 hours.
You will be walking on a gravel road, so it's a little slower going than walking on pavement.
By estimate, we arrived at the flow about 7:15PM, and it was a circus - easily over a hundred people milling about, bicycles piled all over the edges of the road.
Despite the crowd, it was lovely.
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I have a facebook friend who just now, posted video from boat, of the first lava to hit the ocean in 2016. So I guess it's reached? Can anyone confirm?
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it hit ocean at about 1 am early Tue morning....
http://khon2.com/2016/07/26/lava-from-ki...ers-ocean/
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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Are bikes allowed?
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YES!
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Oh wow, too cool! Can't wait to go take pictures.
Bikes are allowed and very popular. Somebody is renting them out at the entrance. Lots of loose gravel though so a bit tricky biking at night when viewing is optimal.
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Bicycled down to the flow this afternoon. Took about 30 minutes to get there from the parking area, but 50 minutes to get back because of the wind. Lot of people were walking their bikes back. Agree that it might get dicey in the dark due to the gravel getting deep and loose in some spots.
It's only about a 100 yard hike over to the cliff where you can see the lava drool into the sea. Best views are found backtracking east up the coast about 50 yards - watch out for loose footing cliff-side! Saw a sight-seeing boat and several helicopters.
About 100 people were at the site, and hundreds more en route or leaving. Was pleasantly surprised at the total lack of supervision: no park rangers, security... just a rope put up to discourage people from getting too close to the cliff edge. Signs say the viewing hours are from 3PM to 9PM.
Definitely worth a look-see - we are unlikely (hopefully) to have a more convenient view of lava entering the ocean than this.
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We have biked/hiked each week for the last 2 months, from both the Kalapana side & the Hawaii Volcanoes NP side (open 24hours a day, except for things like TS Darby)...we went on Monday at noon, from the NP side (weeks ago, I did call Hawaii CD & even talked to Darryls replacement Ed T. when Hawaii County "reopened" the viewing area after the lava reached the pali.... to make absolutely sure we could still bicycle...as we had already gotten NP OK... Ed wanted to talk, mainly to find out what bike gear we had been using!)
No matter which way you start from, plan on taking about 1.5-2X the time traveling UPWIND...esp on really blowing days (this is also true for those walking...)
Most days the NP side has upwind going in & you are blown back to your vehicle...Kalapna side you work hard to get back to up to that vehicle
Also remember that on the downwind side, there is VOG...and near the flow it can be really dense & hazardous (the NP guys all have respirators...)
Bring plenty of water.... we have found that at least 1/2 gal per person & drink it!....less & you will be hurting the next day.... and have more water in your vehicle (if nothing else, for a quick rinse off...those roads are really dusty!)
Monday there were those that were crossing over the flow...the crust on this flow was less than 12 hours old.... you can fill in the blanks from there....(I am not in any rush to see if I can dip my foot in lava.... so I enjoy the flow on the side I chose to go out on...)
That said, Monday, the better entry viewing was on the Kalapana side (based on videos at the site on little phones & cameras...some by flow crossers)
ADD: the gravel road is fairly smooth, we have hiked & biked both sides day & night...but in the NP, the gravel CoC road has had very little vehicle traffic to pack down the gravel & there are some really deep loose gravel areas...we try to stay on the vehicle tracks, but sometimes you will be down in the gravel & sometimes that is when you are trying to climb up a slope on the road & you can come to a dead stop with the wind... this even happens to the park guys that do this as a part of their job...(take this as a great opportunity to enjoy the sights around you, get a breath & decide if you will ride or walk your bike out of the gravel stop)
I look at this as more of a bike/hike on really windy days...
Good-to-know info, Carey. Thanks as always. I walked this once and am not going to do it again unless I want to/have to. Will do the biking thing next.
