it s bubbly, soft. you can break it in your hand. reporter: researchers here quickly churning out data to help the usgs chart where the lava flow might be heading, especially as it s inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway connecting the east and west of the big island. they warn the slower pace is deceptive at times. it might look like a big wall of hot rock and it doesn t look like it s moving much, but they can surge where all of a sudden the front breaks off and lava comes spewing out. reporter: dangerous perhaps, but for c.j. an eruption is never destructive. at what point does it become destruction? putting a house in the way? i lost property during the 2018 eruption. i had many friends that lost properties. my mom lost ta house. we don t view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. reporter: speaking of time,
the lava junkies. david culver has more on that. reporter: seemingly photogenic from every single. there s a beauty to mauna loa s eruption. volcano s different every day. every time you go, it s always different. c.j., driving us to his picture-perfect spot at 4:00 in the morning. the best view, he believes, the rising sun greeting the glowing lava. many hours of sleep sacrificed for a few minutes of perfect lighting, weather permitting. yeah, that is superthick. reporter: we step into the cold rain, hoping it will burn off. as we wait, c.j. admits to us, he is a particular kind of thrill seeker. a lava junkie. you know, the term out here, we call ourselves lava junkie. it s our fix. we go out. it gives us our excitement.
photogenic from every angle, there is a striking beauty to the eruption, especially ascap sured by c.j.kale. the cole contain know is different every single time you go. it s always different. reporter: he drives taos his picture-perfect spot at 4:00 in the morning. the best view he believes is the rising sun greeting the glowing lava. a few minutes of perfect lithe, weather permitting. yeah. that is super thick. we step out into the cold rain hoping it will burn off. as we wait, c.j. admits he is a particular kind of thrill seeker. ala va junky. kind of the turn out here. it s kind of our fix. we go out. it s what gives us our excitement, our adrenalin for the day. reporter: this lava junky has gone swimming with it, catching
it looks like a wall of hot rock. they can surge where something the front breaks off and lava comes spewing out. reporter: dangerous, perhaps. but for c.j., an eruption is never destructive. at what point did another become destruction? when we put a house in the way. you can t do that. i lost property during the 2018 eruption. i have many friends that lost houses. we don t view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. reporter: speaking of time, sun s up. and our view, still this. does it feel like a washout when you get to this point and suddenly, there s nothing? do you feel disappointment? you know, it s all part of the journey. if every time we pulled up it was amazing, it wouldn t be as special as it is when it is amazing. reporter: david culver, cnn, hawaii. happy holidays from lexus.
all right. welcome back. rivers of lava flowing from the world s largest volcano in hawaii have stopped just shy of a major highway. but for some it s not quite close enough. cnn s david culver introduces us to the lava junkie. reporter: seemingly photogenic from every angle, there is a striking beauty to mauna loa s eruption, especially as captured by photographer c.j. kale. it s different every single day. every single time you go it s always different. reporter: c.j. driving us to his picture-perfect spot at 4:00 in the morning. the best view he believes the rising sun greeting the glowing lava. many hours of sleep sacrificed for just a few minutes of perfect lighting, weather permitting.