There was a soft, rhythmic crunching of the glassy crust underfoot as the group of about 20 journalists trudged their way across the stalled lava flow.
Having crossed Apaa Street just south of the Pahoa transfer station Oct. 25, the flow crusted over and inflated from its original height of 1 foot to between 6 and 10 feet, and even higher in some places.
“There was a flow that stalled in Kalapana years ago, and after six months they went out there with a (Caterpillar) D9 (bulldozer) to try and clear away the lava rock, and it was still so hot it boiled all the oil in the D9’s crankcase,” said Frank Trusdell, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
As the scientist explained this, some members of the media turned their gaze from the eerie layer of shimmering air above the still warm surface of the flow in the distance to their own feet, and the cracked black surface below, which still released warm little columns of air as the heat rose up and out. At least one reporter shifted his weight and changed locations quickly, in case that particular spot was weakened by his standing in one place too long.
“I’m sure that if you cut into the center out there,” Trusdell said, sweeping his hand in the direction of the center of the stalled flow, “you would see bright orange. It’s definitely still hot.”
Monday marked the first official opportunity for members of the media to travel out to the lava flow under the guidance of Hawaii County Civil Defense and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory officials. Carrying cameras, notebooks, mobile devices and more, the group was ferried out to the Pahoa waste transfer station, where the lava flow had come within feet of impacting the structures there before the it lost its momentum and ground to a halt.
Earlier in the morning Monday, more than 300 Pahoa-area students were given the same opportunity to view the area of the transfer station and learn from University of Hawaii at Hilo geology experts about the forces of nature that required many of them to be relocated to new schools.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.