Trying (and failing) to catch Kīlauea fountaining

My friend Graham and I have, twice this month, attempted to catch the current eruption of Kīlauea only for the fountaining happening in its caldera to take a break the night before we visited. (It's currently in a stage of fountaining and resting in haphazard alternating bursts.) Our first trip, fog came in at dusk so thickly that we couldn't even see any glow from the caldera, but at least we were able to see something on our second outing.

We also did some hiking, including the hike along Sulphur Banks. I hadn't done that one before and found it quite a nice walk. It's in this sort of valley near the caldera with trees on the sides but little vegetation other than grass in the middle due to the heat underground, giving it this sort of idyllic quality (as seen below).

It also has places where elemental sulfur (from hydrogen sulfide reacting with water) form crystalline deposits, which is pretty neat.

While hiking Devastation Trail, I also found this vantage point where you can see Maunakea from. It's a cool perspective, with Kīlauea in the foreground, Mauna Loa in the middle, and the peak of Maunakea in the distance. From left to right, I'm pretty sure the observatories that can be seen upon it are Subaru, Gemini, and CFHT (though you might have to enlarge the picture).

And finally, with night falling, we were able to make out the glow of fresh lava on the floor of Hale Maʻumaʻu. I'd read there were some new lava flows, but it was fascinating to see it up close (especially since I was only expecting to see a bit of localized glow from the cracks in the lava lake, which is on the far side of the crater).

Overall it was fun to visit the volcano again and try to catch the ongoing eruption, even if Kīlauea wasn't playing ball. I hiked a few trails I wasn't familiar with and found some new favorites (the Sulphur Banks trails was especially nifty), and it's always cool to be reminded of the sheer scale of (one of) our local hole(s) in the crust. I don't know if I'll try to catch the fountaining again given how unpredictable this eruption is being, but we'll see! A hui hou!