Today we walked on a new lava flow from 1897.
It was all ropy pahoehoe formed from slow flowing lava.
The layer on top cools and solidifies, but the lava underneath continues to flow and push it so the skin wrinkles.
The surface is very rough and hard on hiking boots.
Some places you can see something got in the way of the flowing lava.
This one was a tree. You can still see the texture of the bark in the imprint.
This is where giant gas bubble blooped up.
The inside of the bloops is all spikey.
Sometimes the lava flowed out after leaving a thick skin, leaving giant holes.
This is where the new lava flowed over land formed by a much earlier eruption.
There were giant cracks in some places.
The older parts of the island have things growing on them.
But because this lava flow is only a bit over 100 years old it only has a few pioneer plants growing in it.
There wasn’t much living here, but we did find a lion.
And two dodos.
And a few crabs near the shore.
And, of course, a locust.
There was pink lava.
A rainbow formed while we were hiking.
This is Matt holding up pinnacle rock. He refused to put any effort into it. He’s lucky it didn’t fall on him.
