Viewing a Volcanic Eruption in Hawaii is Magic By Photographer, Author & Contributor Don Hurzeler
I make my living photographing the eruptions at Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was raised in Palos Verdes and have always been interested in big, natural events…like the huge waves at Lunada Bay or dramatic cloud formations and sunsets viewed from high on the hill. However, those beauties are way down the scale from seeing a volcano erupt. The most often thing I hear visitors to Hawaii say, after viewing an eruption is…”That was life changing.”
Kilauea started having episodic eruptions in December 2024. Since then, it has gone off 31 times and fountained as high as 1200 feet or more into the air. Episodes can be a few hours or a couple of days. There is usually a week to two weeks between each episode. Each episode is different…and all are spectacular.
Let’s talk about safety. The eruptions are taking place within a caldera inside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. There are several viewing areas on the cliff of the caldera. Most are more than a mile away from the actual eruption. The view from the Volcano House Hotel is about two miles away…and spectacular. The National Park Service does a great job of identifying and managing the viewing areas. If you stay inside the ropes, I would consider each viewing area to be very safe. If you insist on getting closer, I would consider that to be borderline insane and dangerous as can be. Plenty of great viewing space, so stick with the legal viewing.
When you look at my photos, please realize each was taken with a very high end long lens…600 to 1200mm…taken from a long way away. However, you can view the eruptions without any telescope or binoculars…the eruptions are massive and you will need nothing more than your own eyes and some time to enjoy the view.
Viewing areas can be as close as looking out the window at the Volcano Inn, or a 100 yard easy walk at the Kilauea Overlook or a one mile easy walk to a viewing area hiked to from the Devastation Trail parking lot.
It is not just the eruptions that are interesting. We often have the Milky Way above the lava, such as this shot I took an hour before sun up. At night we sometimes get “moonbows” …rainbows you can see at night. In the daytime we often see rainbows galore.
An added attraction…satellites and meteor in the star filled skies above the lava. Oh, and when the eruption is going strong, it sounds like a jet engine from up to a mile away. On several occasions, I got to witness tornadoes within the caldera, generated by the tremendous heat of the eruption.
More on safety…yes, there are gases that can bother or endanger people. However, those are monitored and people are moved if those gases or smoke become a problem. VOG is formed and it is like smog and can bother some people…even when they are back in Kona or anywhere on the island. I have had asthma my whole life and have never been bothered by the VOG, but it is real and some people are sensitive to it.
The volcano is scientifically monitored 24/7. If the volcanologists feel there is danger present, they shut down all or part of the park.
Could the volcano produce some horrific surprise that would endanger people? Absolutely, but no more than an earthquake or fire surprise in Los Angeles.
This is not like hacking your way through a jungle to get to some unmonitored and unpredictable eruption in Indonesia or Africa. There is some rhythm and history to Kilauea and that adds some degree of safety. I have been out there hundreds of times since 1969…took my kids and grand kids…took my mom, Coleen Hurzeler of Palos Verdes Estates, when she was 97 years old…and she cried from the beauty of it. It is something you CAN do. And I hope you do.
The hardest part about viewing an eruption comes in two parts…being there when it is going off and beating the crowd to the best viewing spots. Should you decide to come, contact me at djhzz@aol.com and I will help you figure that out and may even go with you, if the timing is right…and for no charge…happy to visit with people from my old hometown.
And just so you understand how it works…I have rushed out there (a two hour drive from Kailua-Kona) because it was predicted to erupt at any moment…sat on the cliff waiting for the eruption for 36 hours straight…finally had to go home for whatever reason…only to have it erupt five hours later, when I was too tired to return. That can happen. Or…you can drive right in and have it go off the second you get there…and that happens too.
You can fly into the Big Island at Kailua Kona or into Hilo. Kona is the dry side of the island and known for great beaches and snorkeling/fishing/diving (and our Lava Light Gallery in Waikoloa) and Hilo is the very tropical, wet side of the island closest to the volcano. By the way…if you get unlucky and the volcano does not go off while you are here, there is plenty to see on the island, including the jewel of the island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. There will be steam steaming, perhaps cooling lava that will look red and beautiful at night and lots of landscape that will range from tropical forest to barren lava landscapes…you will love it.
One last thing…the hour before sunrise is magic for photographers…don’t wait for sunrise itself. And, we love photographing eruptions during the hours of 2am to 4am…virtually no one in the park and no bears to eat you. In fact, I have hiked hundreds of miles at night, by myself or with others, in my 70s (including last week at age 78) and have never had an interaction with an animal or person that concerned me. When the lava is running outside of the caldera…and it is not doing so now, nor is expected to be doing so anytime soon…things can get dangerous in a hurry, so check with me before taking on such an adventure.
I hope to see you out there.
Aloha,
Don Hurzeler
Here comes the sun.
Don and Linda are “lucky to live Hawaii” for the past seventeen years and claims to have never experienced an unhappy day on the island.
However, he does admit that he thinks of PV often…as it stands today and as it was. And what he misses most from those early days on the hill are growing up with a great set of friends and neighbors and the unimaginable freedom enjoyed in those days. He claims that he was raised like a free range chicken, able to hitch hike to get around town, to go out in surf that would scare any parent and to carry around a bow and arrow or small caliber gun to protect himself from rattle snakes when he hiked the canyons…not as a highly trained, accredited, licensed gun owner…but as a 12 year old kid whose dad treated guns like tools…there for protection and to be treated with respect and care.
And the best part of his freedom, no cell phones. Don was basically on his own and no one could track him or reach him until he decided to come home. Don always knew when dinner was served and he made sure to sneak in the door a few minutes prior. And, get this, dinner always included beer for Don…from about age 9 on. Or a milkshake made using 31 Flavors Baskin and Robbins ice cream from the Hollywood Rivera store mixed with crème de menthe. His dad felt the alcohol would whet Don’s appetite and help him grow from the skinny kid he was in those days. That did not work, but it did make him (temporarily) unafraid of orcas.
You can catch up with Don Hurzeler on Facebook. He is also on Instagram @donhurzeler. His book writing website is donhurzeler.com and his photography website is lavalightgalleries.com.
For a kid who grew up on the mean streets of Palos Verdes Estates, parented in a way that would land everyone in jail today, but supported, coached and loved…Don came out alright. A PV boy who fully understands how lucky he was that his parents built their dream home on a hill with a million lights sparkling below…or a fog bank a thousand feet thick.
To purchase Don’s books, please visit his Amazon page: