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Comment by coryfklein | Hacker News Reader

What exactly is the state of "volcano tourism"? I remember being entranced as a kid by footage of lava flows; the heat, the glowing, and the viscosity of it all just seemed so alien and exciting.

Do there exist – in Hawaii or elsewhere – experienced tour guides that can safely bring you to see such sights in person? Obviously I'm not saying I want to see the next Mount Saint Helens up close, but clearly camera men are able to get up close and personal, so there must be times and places where the risk is acceptable enough right?

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Not familiar with volcano tourism in general but do recall that there were such excursions available in New Zealand which recently resulted in death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Whakaari_/_White_Island_e...

I don't know about hiking up to see the lava on Mauna Loa (I read the area has been closed off for awhile due to a likely eruption), but when I was on the Big Island during a Kilauea eruption I took a helicopter flight over the lava flows. It was a great experience. I took one marketed as "Feel the heat" that had the doors removed. We did not fly over the main caldera but over some lava flows further down the mountain in the Puna district. I quite enjoyed it and I sure did "Feel the heat" when flying over the faster moving sections of the flows that were glowing red.

I was fortunate to feel the heat last year when I was able to get relatively close to the erupting volcano in Iceland. Sat atop a nearby hill that was accessible on May 31, but became inaccessible a few days later.

Mauna Loa is part of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, which you can visit. I don't think you get too close to the caldera, though. https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm

I actually stood on the Mauna Loa caldera once when there was no activity, there was an officially marked trail that goes down right to the edge of it and there were signs that say something like "you can stand here at the edge for a short amount of time but go no further!"

Although surely they close that trail off when lava activity is expected...

You can take a tour near Etna https://www.visitsicily.info/en/attrazione/mount-etna/

Or the ferry to tour the crater of Santorini. https://www.santorini-view.com/attractions/santorini-volcano...

I suppose all volcanos are great attractions. Until the start fuming

Fagradalsfjall in Iceland in 2021 was more or less a self-guided tourist attraction. I went twice a few weeks apart. Depending on the state of the flow there were different viewpoints and paths. There were a few search and rescue teams around during daytime hours, and some recommended paths, but I wouldn't call it a controlled area in any way. In general the lava flow was more than slow enough that you wouldn't be in any danger from it unless you did something incredibly stupid (and some people did, although I don't believe anyone died). In some of the valleys farther from the main caldera the lava was barely moving - if you were so inclined you could go and poke it with a stick. People brought hotdogs as a joke to roast over the lava. I imagine you can find pictures online easily enough, as hundreds of people were going up there every day.

I have done this. I don't know who would consider it safe, exactly, and from what I understand the trip was not entirely legal, but nobody got (seriously) hurt and it was an experience I will never forget.

We hiked out to the lava river in the pitch dark, starting off around 2-3 AM, and stayed til it was fully light. We saw a few helicopters after the sun rose but met no other hikers. We had two local guides who had scouted the route the night before.

It was spectacular and surprising, a truly alien environment. For all the hazards, I'd certainly do it again if I ever got the chance.

I went back to Kilauea several years later, on a boat - there were commercial tours which would take you right up to where the lava flow splashed into the sea. I was glad to see it from the other perspective, but walking up to the lava, getting right in there, and poking it with a stick, was by far the more intense experience.

You can still get close. During the 2018 Kilauea eruption a local took my partner in a flat-bottom aluminum skiff out where the lava met the ocean. Intense temperature and pressure deltas made the lava explode underwater, creating literal lava bombs below the water. The guide lowered a bucket fifty feet into the sea and pulled back a pot of boiling water.

It's a small industry out there when the lava flows (e.g. https://bigislandguide.com/big-island-lava-boat-tour)

Interestingly I am in Hawaii right now and hiked about 7 miles on Mauna Loa. It's part of a national park and it's massive- it takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other. I learned yesterday a volcano is more of a complex, the most recent eruption gives us the classic lava dome and crater you probably imagine when you think of a volcano.

As of yesterday there were no big fireworks going on, but there was lots of vents spewing steam and smoke. Apparently only part of the park is closed today and going at night you can see the lava glowing- we left before dark.

I've spent a few days in Volcano national park, right before the 2018 eruption.

We could see lava splashing in the caldera from an observation point (Which has been closed since then - not that it would be of much help, since the lava level has also dropped.) We could hike geologically active areas (sulfur vents), and across decades-old lava flows. The latter was an incredibly surreal experience, due to the sharp transition between dense jungle and alien wastelands.

There were hiking tours available for walking up to the lava at night, but they seemed pretty sketchy.

I did this around 2010. We hiked out to lava flows with an amateur guide being careful not to step on areas too hot where we would break through or melt our tennis shoes. I stuck a stick in flowing lava and played with it, slightly burning my hand. It is a lot like working with blown glass. We then sat on a nearby cliff and watched the lava flow from larger rivers into the ocean.

I assume it was illegal, but one of my fondest memories

Up until the recent Kilauea eruption in 2021 there was a period of about 30 years where you could hike up to molten lava flowing from the pu'u o'o vent on the southeast slope of Kilauea. The length of the hike varied from a few hundred yards to several miles depending on which way the lava was flowing. The 2021 eruption drained the lava from pu'u o'o and it stopped flowing, and the only exposed red lava was in the Kilauea summit caldera, and the only (legal) way to see it was by helicopter.

So the TL;DR is: it depends. At the moment it's not looking good for easy access, but stick around, the situation is bound to change. A week from now you might be able to see lava flowing in the streets of Kailua or Hilo.

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