Kīlauea volcano activity draws crowds amid historical reflections

The Kīlauea volcano has attracted significant crowds since December 2024 due to lava fountaining episodes at the Halemaʻumaʻu summit crater. While many visitors focus on the summit, the surrounding landscape offers various hiking opportunities, such as the Footprints Trail located near Highway 11, southwest of the main entrance to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

The Footprints Trail leads to a pavilion where Native Hawaiians can still find footprints preserved in ash from an explosive eruption in 1790. The trail continues into the Kaʻū Desert toward the Maunaiki shield, a prominent feature in the Southwest Rift Zone that formed during an eight-month eruption between December 1919 and August 1920.

Historical records from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which was monitoring the area at the time, note that the Maunaiki eruption followed a significant event in November 1919 when the Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake drained by more than 600 feet in just four hours.