Episode 16 started on April 1, 2025 @10:24am. We arrived around 6:40pm and watched the mesmerizing show for 2 hours with hundreds of other astonished onlookers. A friendly lady at Basically Books told us about the Devastation Trail lookout. It's a 2 mile walk from the parking lot to the lookout. The 700' fountain was the largest I had ever seen. One person said it sounded like a jet engine. I thought it sounded like impossibly large waves crashing on a huge imaginary beach. The fountain was so bright it blows out cell phone cameras as you can see in the video from my iPhone 16. The USGS camera feed on You Tube has a way better camera. The line of cars waiting to get into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park backed up for several miles when we left. No damage or injuries reported.
Tomoko humored me and we went back to the eruption the next morning April 3 [to see it in the daytime]. The fountain was fading and maybe 1/3 of its height from the night before. The cellphone videos were much better during the day. The fountain stopped by the time we got home. Episode 16 was over.
dave@worldsworstwriter.org 2023-10-13