Volcano National Park, Hawaii

This is inside the crater in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.  The crater itself is about 2 miles wide.  It's absolutely incredible to imagine rock in liquid form, and then cooling again to rock, but here it is.  Apparently, at one point, 400 feet thick, of molten rock.  Off in the distance, you can see our gang, getting near the edge of what was molten.  In the foreground is a beautiful bush, which has decided to grow in the middle of rock.

This is us, on the crater.  You can see what's called the bathrub rim, as high as the molten lava rose.

Here you can see the surface has cracked.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but we're standing on lava rock.  There is virtually no dirt, and yet a couple plants and bushes have found places to live.

A fern.

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Olivine from the surface.  Olivine was created and embedded in the lava during its dynamic phase.  We found these crystals in chunks of lava as well as loose.

Olivene in lava.

Sarah likes the rental.

Why did the chicken cross the road?