Run from Summer

We were tired of being hot so we rounded up some friends and retreated to the 10,000 foot level of Mauna Loa to look for lava tubes. The air was misty and the 65 degree temperature was ideal for hiking. With the help of his GPS unit, Chris lead us right to some pretty sweet caves. The first skylight we found had a good 30-foot drop to get down into, and the tube looked HUGE. Ben didn't give up easily and he found another way into cave, where we took entertaining photos in the sun's rays beaming through the first skylight we had found.

We discovered a few other tubes, also, and we saw amazingly bizarre lava formations. The lava surrounding one skylight was smooth enough to ride a skateboard on. We think it could have formed when the lava tube got clogged up and super hot, runny lava was forced out that skylight onto the surface. Another hole revealed a drop of at least 30 feet to the floor of a cave, and the ceiling was less than a foot thick. No wonder bulldozers sometimes fall through during excavation. The ground isn't alway as solid as it appears.


Chris and Sam check out a hole in the ground that is a skylight to a large lava tube below.

Chris "Hangs 10" on the lip of what used to be a pool of lava.

Ben has seen the light.