The Desolation: Halina Pali

[sabbath999]

There's a small, twisty one lane road that leaves the main Chain Of Craters road in Volcano National Park.

The road, called Hilina Pali, takes off down the side of the volcano into one of the most desolate areas imaginable... the road is literally just pavement over lava flows. Because it is both a nesting area for the endangered Nene goose, and in a dry area where wildfires are common, it closed much of the year.

At the end of the road, eight miles further down the side of the volcano, there's a cliff that drops a couple thousand feet onto the blasted lava shelfs of Kilauea volcano.

Looking out over the blasted landscape, with the wind howling and the VOG rolling in (toxic volcanic fog), the view that unfolds before your eyes is both stunning and disquieting...

 

[dhilberg]

Beautiful shot. Love the contrast between the relatively healthy looking foreground and the desolate landscape beyond.

I'd like to visit the Hawaiian islands one day...