Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Happy 106th to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!

On August 1, 1916 the United States Congress adopted a bill to establish a National Park in the Territory of Hawaii. According to the National Park Service, the newly formed Hawaii National Park included the following land areas on Hawaii Island: 1) the Kīlauea Section (35,865 acres); 2) the Mauna Loa Section (17,920 acres); and 3) a strip of land to connect the two aforementioned sections. This Hawaii National Park also included Haleakalā on Maui which became a National Park on August 21, 1961.

In early June this summer, we spent a week on the Big Island, Hawaii, and got to visit the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

It was so cool to see Kilauea! In 2018, the summit of Kilauea collapsed making the caldera sink. Today, you look (from afar) to see the activity in the crater. Here’s a chart from NPS showing the 2018 caldera collapse.

Credit: NPS

Check out a few photos from our day at this national park. Volcanoes continue to fascinate me!

During the day, you only see smoke coming up.

Day view

At night, you can see the glow from the lava inside it. It’s so beautiful. The photo doesn’t really do it justice.

Night view

At the south side of the national park, you can see former lava flow from previous eruptions along the Chain of Craters Road.

This national park contains such unique sites, hikes, and drives to enjoy! Highly recommend visiting this national park if you’re on the Big Island in Hawaii!

Happy 109th to Devils Postpile!

Happy 109th anniversary to Devils Postpile National Monument established back 1911! This national monument is located in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and cover about 800 acres.

The Postpile serves as the main attraction here and is pretty cool to see in person! Current studies suggest that the Postpile was formed less than 100,000 years ago when a cooling lava flow cracked into multi-sided columns. This formation is a rare sight and towers about 60 feet high!

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You can also check the 101 foot high Rainbow Falls here along with many mountain trails.

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While it’s lesser known than the nearby Yosemite National Park, this national monument is definitely worth a visit!

Make sure to check for information online about it before visiting due to the current pandemic.

Happy anniversary to Devils Postpile National Monument!

Castle Geyser

One of the highlights from our trip happened by surprise. In Yellowstone National Park, we caught Castle Geyser erupting while literally standing next to it.

Most people think about Old Faithful when they picture Yellowstone National Park. However, Yellowstone has 500 amazing geysers and some 10,000 thermal features to check out!

Castle Geyser has the largest cone geyser and may be the oldest geyser in that area.  It’s named after looking like an old castle.

While the geyser’s eruption pattern has changed over time, it now goes off about every 12-14 hours unless it has minor eruptions which throw off the pattern at times.

The water eruptions from this castle shoot hot water up to 100 feet into the air for about 20 minutes! And then it blows some hot, noisy steam for around 30-40 minutes. The entire eruption can last about an hour.

We caught this eruption one day in July while visiting there. Our family loved it! Definitely a highlight from the trip!

Enjoy some photos and a video of this really cool geyser!

Earth Day

To continue our National Park Week, today is Earth Day!

To celebrate this day, you can do a number of activities.  You can volunteer at a national park; learn about nature and science within a national park; visit a national park; learn about the history of the land; recycle; avoid plastic straws and utensils; and donate to the national parks.

Our national parks contain some amazing natural sights to check out! Take a moment today and enjoy them!

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Happy Earth Day!