HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

'Hawaii Volcanoes National Park', established in 1916, displays the results of hundreds of thousands of years of volcanism, migration, and evolution—processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct human culture. The park encompasses diverse environments that range from sea level to the summit of the earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, offers scientists insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and visitors' views of dramatic volcanic landscapes. The park includes 505 mi² (1348 km²) of land.
Over half of the park is designated wilderness and provides unusual hiking and camping opportunities. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been designated as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site.
The volcanic activity generated in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park helped create Kalapana (now covered by lava from recent eruptions) and other black sand beaches.
It is said that if any volcanic rock or black sand is taken from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (or anywhere in Hawaii) that the person that took it will be cursed by the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele until it is returned. While purportedly an ancient Hawaiian belief, historians can trace this legend only to the mid twentieth century, and it is widely believed to have been invented by park rangers to keep visitors from taking rocks. Nevertheless, the lobby of Kīlauea Military Camp (now a vacation area for military personnel) has a cabinet displaying rocks returned by people attempting to atone for the bad luck that has befallen them, and letters describing their predicaments.
Russ Apple may have been the originator of this myth; as National Park Service Pacific historian and 30 year veteran of the National Park Service, Apple was instrumental in restoring Hawai'ian cultural resources in Kīlauea and Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park in Kailua Kona, Hawai'i.
Within the Park boundaries are the Thurston Lava Tube, an ancient lava tube with a hiking trail running through it, and the Kīlauea Caldera, skirted by the Volcano House Hotel, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and the Jaggar Museum.

Contents

History

References

External links

History

Kīlauea and its Halemaʻumaʻu caldera were traditionally considered the sacred home of Pele, and Hawai'ians visited the crater to offer gifts to the goddess. The first western visitors to the site, English missionary William Ellis and American Asa Thurston, encountered Kīlauea in 1823. Ellis wrote of his reaction to the first sight of the erupting volcano:

A spectacle, sublime and even appalling, presented itself before us. 'We stopped and trembled.' Astonishment and awe for some moments rendered us mute, and, like statues, we stood fixed to the spot, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below.^[1]

Lorrin A. Thurston, the American reverend's grandson, would be the driving force behind the establishment of the park in 1916.

References

1. HAWAII NATURE NOTES November 1953

External links

★ Hawaii Volcanoes National Park