~PELE series--12 of 15~
The small figure you see on the right center of the image is a fellow photographer with tripod; we were the only ones there. Late that night he became trapped between the stream of lava he is filming before him and another one well behind him that earlier was slow and far from the pali but later sped up and poured over the cliffs as seen in the last photo. He was able to walk up-slope between the two and then dance across the still cooling pahoehoe lava. His boots were melted but he was fine.
Needless to say it is very dangerous to explore active lava flows without some prior knowledge of the dangers, which are many. At times, entire benches of new lava the size of a football field can suddenly collapse downward 10 to 30 feet (3 to 10 metres) with devastating results to anything or anyone on or near it. Each year there is a death or two from this and other dangers.
Needless to say it is very dangerous to explore active lava flows without some prior knowledge of the dangers, which are many. At times, entire benches of new lava the size of a football field can suddenly collapse downward 10 to 30 feet (3 to 10 metres) with devastating results to anything or anyone on or near it. Each year there is a death or two from this and other dangers.
Leigh R. Hilbert
