Photo: Kilauea's Lava Lake At Sunset

Makes me glad that I can view this so well on my home computer. I wonder how spectacular it was to view in real life?

You couldn't see it in "real life", Rags, unless you were flying over it. The only thing visible at ground level, even from the "overlook" vantage point, is a dull red glow, and that only after sunset. That's a fairly deep caldera at the Halemau'mau crater where the current lava collection is bubbling and sending out vapour clouds that are about 15% sulphur monoxide. That gaseous emission is what has closed off the circular access road (Crater Rim Drive) for the past three or more years now, not the lava flow.

Yes, I realize that seeing it in real life would be via the air. And, even in a copter, you would need a special gyroscopic mount to kill off all the vibrations for decent images to be made while on the copter ride. Thanks for the detailed info. I'd love to be seeing that with my photo equip't by my side, even with a gas mask and asbestos heat protection.

The good news is you can probably still see a spectacular lava flow at night, red-hot liquid rock cascading off some cliff to hit the ocean and produce incredible white clouds of steam. But you have to be willing to hike a couple of miles (at least) on pretty spottily marked trails and know your way around the park to get to a good vantage point. C'mon down. If we're both up to it, I'll take you for a walk you'll never forget.

Kind thanks for the invite. Once I win the lottery, that'll be the first thing on my bucket list.