# How the Return of Lava Sparked New Hope for Hawaii > The return of lava to Kilauea volcano is drawing travelers from around the world. Discover how nature is offering hope to Hawaii's economy after the pandemic. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/kak-vozvrashchenye-lav-dalo-nadezhdu-na-vosstanovlenye-havaiev/ - Language: en - Published: 2025-08-22 - Categories: Culture, Historic Sites, Leisure, Mountains, Tours, USA --- Five days before Christmas, Cheryl Gansecki, a volcanologist at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, was lying in bed when a small earthquake woke her just after 9:30 p.m. She checked the webcams on the summit of Kilauea, and her eyes went wide as she saw a bright, bold glow rising from the crater. Lava. It was back. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-1-2025.jpg) She quickly made the 45-minute drive to the crater's edge, next to the Visitor Center in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. By the time she arrived at 10:45 p.m., the news had already spread everywhere. "There were already a lot of people there, and traffic was backing up," Gansecki said. The last time Kilauea erupted lava was more than two years earlier, in the summer of 2018, when it flowed relentlessly through neighborhoods and destroyed more than 700 homes. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-2-2025.jpg) Even so, plenty of people felt the pull to go and see it for themselves. According to the park, hundreds of cars arrived within a few hours. It was a mix of curious locals, scientists, photographers, and business owners. They gathered at the Kilauea overlook, where the bright orange glow lit up the crater, reflecting off the green of the trees and the brown of the rocks. That night, everyone was asking versions of the same questions: What would this eruption become? Would it stabilize and give the island's pandemic-battered economy a chance to recover? Would it draw people to travel to Hawaii and witness one of nature's greatest spectacles? No one could know as they went to bed that night, but looking at where things stand today, optimism is spreading across the island. At the moment there are no signs of a sudden decline or a dangerous escalation of the eruption, according to Matt Patrick, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS expects the eruption to stay stable in the short term, with lava confined to the calm boundaries of the summit crater, safe for everyone hoping to see the phenomenon. That means, ironically, that the return of hot, potentially destructive lava has brought hope that 2021 will be a better year than 2020 in tourism circles. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-3-2025.jpg) ## A Spark for Tourism Jason Cohn, president of Hawaii Forest & Trail, an adventure tour company, also got out of bed that night to see the eruption. He drove two and a half hours from his home near Kona, hopeful that it would spark renewed interest and new business, just as past eruptions had. It didn't take long for that hunch to come true. The very next day, he started getting calls about his volcano tours, which had been shut down for lack of demand during the pandemic. Now they are up and running again. A similar story played out at Paradise Helicopters, which was able to reopen its Covid-shuttered Hilo location thanks to surging demand for helicopter flights over Kilauea. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-4-2025.jpg) Hawaii Volcano Vacations, a vacation rental agency near the Kilauea crater, reported an increase in bookings and length of stay since the eruption began. And, no surprise, attendance at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has more than doubled compared with pre-eruption 2020 levels. For Ross Birch, executive director of the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau, the new eruption is a wonderful opportunity right now and a boost for the state's tourism industry, which overall fell 75% compared with the previous year. "It's a breath of fresh air after everything we've been through," Birch said. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-5-2025.jpg) ## The Morning After: Making Sense of What Happened The mood was uncertain on the night the eruption began, and by morning volcanic gas, or "vog" as the locals call it, had settled into the sky above the island. But from a geological standpoint, the picture came into focus once volcanologists from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory painted the public a picture of what had happened the evening before. The warning signs had started weeks earlier, when what is called an "intrusion" of lava was detected moving into the crater below the surface, building pressure. They noticed that swarms of earthquakes were becoming more and more frequent. The situation reached its tipping point on the evening of December 20. The ground cracked, and the pressure pushed lava into the crater, where it fountained and streamed down the side walls, red, orange, and bright white. That was only the beginning of a spectacular show. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-6-2025.jpg) The lava poured down into an area where a water lake had been forming over the course of two years, 430 feet wide, 885 feet long, and 160 feet deep. It boiled away in 90 minutes. Lava kept coming through Christmas and New Year's, forming a lava lake that grew deeper by the day. On January 5, a remarkable phenomenon known as the Dome Fountain appeared in the crater. The stunning video went viral across virtually every news site. Since then the lava flow rate has risen and fallen, but it has never stopped. After nearly a month and a half of steady filling, the lava lake is now almost 700 feet deep and still growing. And if it keeps growing, things could get even more interesting. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-7-2025.jpg) ## Visiting the Volcano: What to Expect Right now the best way to see the lava is from a helicopter. Hovering above it on a clear day, you can watch it emerge from the crater walls and fill the lava lake below. The flight also circles past sites of old eruptions on Kilauea, and the pilot's commentary helps you grasp the sheer scale of what is happening. For now, because of the crater's depth and the angle of the overlooks, a flight is the only way to see the real, physical lava. But if the thought of a helicopter ride makes you queasy, don't worry: more accessible views may become available in the future. According to Patrick of the USGS, the lava level had been rising by more than three feet a day. If that filling pace continues, the lava lake could become visible from the public overlooks inside the national park as early as April. Combined with a successful vaccine rollout, this raises hopes for a big spring. The state of Hawaii already has a pre-arrival testing program that lets visitors skip quarantine on arrival, and early discussions suggest that a separate program for vaccinated travelers could launch as soon as next month. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-104-8-2025.jpg) ## How to See the "Glow" In the meantime, Kilauea's amazing nighttime "glow" lets onlookers experience the shine of the lava and the reflection of its light as it burns at more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. "Volcanoes evoke such a primal feeling," Gansecki reflected. "They're so big and so powerful, and just to walk up to one and feel a little of that power is awe-inspiring." After dark, head to the Kilauea overlook or another spot along the Crater Rim Trail. Right after sunset is the most popular time to watch the glow come to life, but there's always room to settle in; those seeking complete solitude should aim for sunrise (the park is open 24 hours). Adventurous visitors might consider the mile-long walk to Keanakakoi. Either way, bring layers, a flashlight, and a raincoat. The Kilauea crater sits at more than 4,000 feet above sea level and is far colder than the coast. Prepare for your visit by watching the documentary "Kilauea: Hawaii on Fire," and don't forget the cultural component. Kilauea Caldera, also known as Kaluapele, is a sensitive place for Native Hawaiians. It is the home of Pele, an elemental deity in Hawaiian mythology. Bobby Camara, a naturalist and former park ranger who runs a local blog about the volcanoes, urges visitors to understand that the national park preserves the spiritual heritage of Native Hawaiians in the same way that, say, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado preserves the archaeological heritage of the Pueblo peoples. It is a special place at all times, but especially when Pele leaves a light on for us, to show us that she is at peace. "Pele has returned to the summit crater, to an area where she threatens no homes or livelihoods," said Jessica Ferracane, a park employee for more than 10 years. "To me, that's a feeling of reassurance."