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The Drive up Saddle Road (Mauna Loa's snow-covered peak on the right)
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The endless grasslands of Parker Ranch in the foreground, Mauna Loa in the background
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One of the few plants we saw in the State Forest Preserve
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Reminds us of home! The red earth at the mounds at the end of Red Cinder Cone Road
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A good example of the dangers of crossing lava fields--thin shells above hollow lava tubes can collapse under your foot at any moment
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More collapsed lava tubes
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Looks like a crashing wave of lava frozen mid-air
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Making the transition from the old (1899) lava flow to the new (1935) flow
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Even in the midst of miles and miles of barren lava fields, life finds a foothold
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Most of the lava field was the chinkety a'a lava (reddish in foreground), there were some patches of pahoehoe lava (greyish in middle distance)
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More of the ropey pahoehoe lava flows
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Yet more of the ropey pahoehoe lava flows
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A good image of the ropey pahoephoe lava
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Don't drop your keys in there!
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Now far from the car, we climb a small ridge and see the Red Cinder Cones where we parked
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Lava fields as far as the eye can see in every direction (Mauna Loa's summit in the distance)
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Truly in the middle of nowhere--the Geographic Center of Hawaii!
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And we can't fail to get our X-marks-the-spot pic
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Multiple colors and textures on the various types and ages of lava flows down the flanks of Mauna Loa
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Another tenacious and adventurous fern takes hold in the middle of nowhere
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A lava cowpie
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An attempted close-up to give a feel for how excoriating the lava rock was
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This pahoepoe lava truly looked ropey
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A whole bush! This must be why it's a state forest preserve.
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Back to the car...
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Atop the Red Cinder Cones, we spotted a rainbow
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One of the deep craters on the Red Cinder Cones
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Looks like here was where the red rock used to pave Red Cinder Cone Road was taken from.
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And here's that red-rock road through the black lava fields
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Follow the red-rock paved road...
