TravelAwaits
May.3.2021
You’ll often hear Hawaii’s Big Island described as one of the “youngest” places in the world. That’s because new earth is constantly being formed as lava flows, cools, and hardens. But while the Big Island may be a “young” destination, there’s definitely a lot of old soul in and around its Lava Tree State Monument.
In this remarkable old-growth forest, you can still see the blemishes and battle wounds from 1790, when a mighty lava eruption steamrolled its way through the area. The fast-moving lava enveloped the trees. When the lava made contact with the cool, moist bark, casts of hardened lava formed around the tree trunks. And when the initial surge of lava subsided, the casts of these tree trunks remained, a ghostly reminder of the once-impressive trees that had dominated the forest.