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.
is key here. avoiding congregate settings, washing hands, covering your cough. don t go to school. don t go to work if you re sick. and assess your own individual risk when it comes to mask wearing. if you re in a higher risk category, think about wearing the mask if you are going outdoors. essential advice for everyone watching out there. thank you so much. really appreciate it. thank you so much. according to the u.s. geological survey, the main floe from the mauna loa volcano. david culver introduces us to lava junkies reporter: seemingly
officials have repeatedly warned folks about getting too capitol police. not to mention it s trespassing. you can live caged up and have a boring life or you can go see for yourself and take the chance. reporter: curtis and shirley, perhaps rookie lava junkies, hiked five miles to the edge of the flow. they recorded this video about 50 yards from the crawling lava. then there are those going to the source of the lava, the expert lava junkies, if you will. usgs scientists in protective gear collecting samples of the lava and bringing them here. so we put them in the drying oven. reporter: the university of hawaii at hilo is helping run the rapid response lab for the lava eruption. these samples collected as the lava started spew being. it was thrown up in the air and landed and they scooped it up while it was still molten and
these pictures of kilauea. my group of friends is definitely the far outer limits of the range. i wouldn t recommend pushing that far for everybody. if you caught our life report for cnn this morning , you might have noticed this person, headlamp on, returning from a trek from the lava s edge. officials have warned about getting that close. not to mention it s trespassing. you can live caged up or you can go see for yourself. reporter: perhaps rookie lava junkies hiked over unstable lava rock. they recorded this 50 yards from the crawling lava. then there were those going to the source of the lava, the expert lava junkies, if you will.
the dangers getting that close to the flow, not to mention it s trespassing. you can live caged up and live a boring live or you can go and take a chance. reporter: they hiked five hours on unstable lava rock out to the edge of the flow. they recorded this video about 50 yards from the crawling lava. then there were those going to the source of the lava, the expert lava junkies, if you will, usgs scientists in protective gear collecting samples of the lava and bringing them here. so we put them in the drying oven. reporter: the university of hawaii is helping run the rapid response lab for the eruption. we got a look inside. these samples collected since the lava started spewing. it was thrown up in the air and landed and they scooped it up while it was still molten and quenched it. if you look at it, you ll see