Oral history says that Pele was born in the distant land of Kahiki and voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands in search of a suitable home. She migrated southeast through the islands, eventually arriving at her permanent home in Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea. If you visit Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, it is customary in Hawaiian tradition to ask permission from Pele to travel through her land and this sacred landscape.

Photo by National Park Service

The incredible textured views of Haleakalā National Park’s volcanic scenery make onlookers feel transported to another realm. Haleakala means “house of the sun” and sunrises and sunsets are sublime to witness from the summit. Though sometimes called the Haleakala crater, the expansive view is more of a valley formed by erosion. The peak of Haleakalā is a wahi pana - a legendary place, and is honored by ancient and modern Hawaiian culture. Promising stark volcanic landscapes and sub-tropical rain forest, the park is a wonder to behold. Photo of @HaleakalaNPS courtesy of Chris Archer (@archershoots).

Although never a place of permanent habitation, generations of Hawaiians have journeyed to the summit of Haleakalā for many reasons. Some came to honor the gods, or to say farewell to the deceased. Some came to hunt birds for feathers or for food. Others quarried the fine-grained basalt rock to create stone tools. All who ventured to the volcanic summit, considered it to be a sacred place. Many of the legends associated with Haleakalā center around the demi-god Maui. It was Maui who pulled up the island chain we call Hawai`i with his skillfully made fishhook and line. It is here on the summit of Haleakalā that Maui snared the sun. A wilderness of the gods and a stunning natural landscape, Haleakalā National Park will make your spirits soar. Photo by Rick Vega (www.sharetheexperience.org).

How’s this for a Throwback Thursday post? From January 1983 to July 1986, a series of fissures opened up on Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. 44 lava fountains built a cinder-and-spatter cone later named Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. At times, lava and volcanic glass were launched hundreds of feet in the air. The cone later collapsed, forming a lava lake inside its crater. The most recent eruptions drained the lake and expanded the crater, proving again the power and unpredictability of these dynamic forces. Photo from 1984 by Christina Heliker, U.S. Geological Survey.

Photographer Chris Archer recently captured this moment of moody clouds drifting over the volcanic landscape of Haleakala National Park in Hawai’i. “It’s one of my favorite places on Maui. As sacred as it is beautiful, the colors are vibrant and the weather is ever changing. This is Ka Lua o ka O'o, one of the cinder cones along the crater.” Photo courtesy of Chris Archer.

Evidence of magma just below the surface spills out and meets with the swirling clouds overhead. The rising steam you see from the crater during this time-lapse at Kīlauea in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is a good reminder of the monumental forces of creation and change that have shaped this landscape. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea’s seismicity, deformation and gas emissions for any sign of reactivation. Video by Janice Wei, National Park Service. 

It’s easy to marvel at the striking symmetry of Shishaldin Volcano on Unimak Island. One of the many active volcanoes in Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, it stands 9,373 ft above sea level, making it the highest mountain peak on the Aleutian Islands. In this land of cold and ice, the steam from this smoking volcano makes a remarkable sight. Photo by Kristine Sowl, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Halemaʻumaʻu Crater at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park holds the largest lava lake on Earth. When all that molten rock splashes around, the dynamic orange light can fill the crater and make the nearby steam clouds glow. It’s a jaw-dropping sight and a reminder of the powerful forces of nature that continue to shape our planet. Photo by Janice Wei, National Park Service volunteer.

Here’s an amazing pic of the first supermoon of 2018 from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This photo of the full moon over Mauna Loa was taken 400mm telephoto lens from Volcano House shortly after sunrise. Did you see the supermoon? Photo by Volunteer Janice Wei, National Park Service.

What better place to relax than Easy Chair Crater in Nevada? Located along Lunar Crater National Back Country Byway, Easy Chair Crater doesn’t have anything to do with the moon. It’s origins lie deep within the Earth. Formed by a cinder cone volcano, it is littered with evidence of its violent past – cooled lava bombs and volcanic crystals. Photo by Chip Caroon, Bureau of Land Management (@mypubliclands).