One of my favorite photos and favorite memories on The Big Island.
I'm almost positive that this lava flow happened after my first trip to Hawaii. In fact, there's a good possibility I was watching it flow, in all its red-hot glory, down the mountain on a perfectly clear night with a million stars overhead.
It is crazy to stand on new earth. There is no dirt, no life. Just dark, black rock. It rough and jagged and could tear your skin in a millisecond. It has an almost hollow feeling instead of the dirt solid earth one is used to feeling beneath their feet. It smells different. No tang of trees or plants. No whiff of flower perfume. It's empty and new.
While The Big Island is not as beautiful in the tropical way that Kauai(my personal favorite) is, there is something magic and striking in its newness. Yes there are beaches and trees and normal looking turf on much of the rest of the island. But this dark, new place that is growing by the centimeter every day has a beauty all its own. If you ever make it to the Hawaiian Islands, I highly recommend Volcanoes National Park. You have probably never seen any thing else like it on earth.
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