Journey to the lava.
This is a journal entry about my journey to the lava and the pain I experienced because I wore hiking boots that weren’t broken in yet. I realized later in life that this experience was a painful symbol for my path changing, read on to find out why.
Oct 25th 1997, 9:36 PM Saturday
I saw the lava yesterday. It was awesome. I’ll start from the beginning. We met at the kitchen at 4:30 and left at 5 and drove to the restaurant near the path, got our gear on and headed out. It was Adria, Lisa, Mick, Mohamed, Marcus, Abe and I. We set out for our journey. Our long journey to meet Pele.
The dried lava was what we were walking on. It was the lava flow over a town called Kalapana. It was amazing. Sharp A’a lava. I took a picture of Pele’s hair, winding cords of lava.
Well the journey was treacherous. 1\2 an hour into the hike to Pele I felt a rock in my shoe. About 1\2 an hour more and we took a break and ate fruit. By then my foot hurt so I took off my shoes and socks thinking to find a rock but instead I found 2 big, popped blisters on both heels of my feet. Marcus gave me a paper towel to put on the back of one of my heels but that soon fell off into the bottom of my shoe. The rest of the trip was no better. After a while of careful footing and big cracks to step over I realized I couldn't think of anything but each step. I had to take each step with caution. I heard about people falling on the lava and getting hurt. Sometimes severely So I was cautious. When I looked up I noticed everyone was way ahead of me and I would get panicky and tried to hurry and catch up. But it seemed I was only getting farther away and the pain in my feet kept on growing.
The pain working slowly to my toes now and the balls of my feet...hurt like hell. After a while they just went numb and I realized I wasn’t even using my heels, I was walking flat footed. Healthy? No. So 3 hours on the hike there, we were about 2 hours into it and I was so intimidated by the other people in front of me that I started breathing heavy and my throat started to close because I was choked up. I was trying not to cry because it would slow me down and that was the last thing I needed. I knew there was no turning back as hard and exhausting and painful and treacherous as it was, I kept on my slow pace.
Soon it was dark. I’m glad I brought my heavy duty flashlight. The area light really helped light up the area in front of me. I could see every step I had to take, every crevice I had to jump was lit so bright. It was hard to realize the beauty of it. I can now, when I see pictures and know that it was so much more powerful and beautiful than the pictures. It shot up when it hit the water. Smoke and sulfur poured out from the sea as the lava hit the ocean. From far away about 1 mile we could see this bright glow, orange red. Each time we looked at it we had to stop. It was so powerful.
Mo was great after he saw I was dragging . He kept asking if I was ok. I lied of course and said yes. He would have had me rest and I didn’t want to, it hurt when we stopped. So we reached the lava flow after 3 hours. I stood on a cliff of hardened lava, in pain watching the lava and the smoke. Any minute the lava could shoot up and kill us all, I didn't even care if I live or died. I was just glad I made it to witness the miracle.
Mohamed found a vent with lava dripping down into it. I took pictures. It was amazing. As soon as it started to puff we got out of there, thinking it could explode. We got about 20 feet away and it exploded right where we were standing. If we hadn't moved, we would be burnt or worse. After a few more pictures we decided to go home.
EASIER SAID THAN DONE!
Mo said it would take less time on the coastline road. It probably would have if he wasn't with 6 inexperienced hikers. But we trusted him. I was trucking right behind Mo. I wasn't going to be left behind again. My feet started to hurt again and I had to keep repeating to myself :Every human can withstand any pain.” over and over again. Mo really helped me a lot. With each big step and crack, he was there. When we finally found the path it was all silence and concentration. For me, everyone else was singing and that was good, it kept me going. When they wanted to stop I wouldn't want to because it hurt too bad to stand still. So I motivated everyone to keep going. We had to walk along the coastline so close we could fall in if we didn't, “STAY TO THE LEFT”. I heard those words a lot. “Hold hands everyone. It's steep here.” So we held hands and made a bond as we crossed the narrow path.
We were walking over the old Kalapana Beach, now covered with lava. Talk about rough terrain. I remember one break we took was at a beach area close to the water. It was such a clear night. Luckily, so many stars. Millions I've never seen before on that Hawai’ian sky. It looked like someone sprinkled salt over the sky. The pain and pressure left my feet and I was just grateful to be there with those people at that time. Under those stars. The feeling lasted a while. Then the pain came back and it was time to move. So we got up and went on our way.
Mohamed said it was only a half a mile left to go. That turned into a joke after 2 1\2 hours. “Only 1\2 a mile to go!” Mick and Marcus joked. Funny joke. Mo, I guess, really wanted to get back because he was going really fast. I mean fast. We would catch up with him, and when we were 10 feet away from him, he would take off again. We could see his flashlight going far in the distance and then it would come back and then it would go far away again. There was a light on the building we were looking for and we finally saw it in the distance. That was where the car was SALVATION!
I fell on a lava rock which hurt incredibly bad but was no match to the pain in my feet. I wasn't happy with the situation. That 1\2 a mile turned into 2 hours and I was crazy with frustration. The little light, like the lava, seemed so close but it was so far away. We just had to get to the light and we would be safe in a car. That's all there was to think about. Sitting down in something that would take me to my little A-Frame. My beautiful A-Frame seemed so far away and when I was about to scream with frustration. Someone said : “THE CAR. THERE’S THE CAR!” I looked up and there it was, glowing...well sort of a rusty, Mo’s car glow. The car was screaming at us. “What the heck took you guys so long. Let's go home, I've been waiting for hours!” 6 hours to be exact. 6 hours of hiking. God I’m glad I survived that one Pele demanded blood from me and she got it.
Adria collapsed on the cement by the car. She was ok though she was just tired. I sat down and took my shoes off. Jesus did they hurt. They still do. It felt like I’d been wearing high heels on the hike. So much pulsing pressure. Oh man how painful. We all piled in Mo’s car and headed home. Mo pulled up right to my A-Frame. It took me a while to peel myself out of my seat, but I did and I got my bag and shoes and said “Goodnight my fellow hikers.” and went inside.
No...It isn't over yet. I went inside and put my stuff, well, I threw my stuff on the floor and sat down. Took off my clothes and peeled off my socks slowly. I saw my heels were gross and raw. I took a look at the rest of my feet and all the skin on the top of my toes was gone. Gone, gone, gone. It was so disgusting. All red and swollen and raw. I had blisters on the sides of my big toes and on the balls of both feet. One still hasn't popped. I didn’t even want to deal with them. I was going to show Adria but she wasn't home. I slept with my feet out of my blankets and dreamt of walking on the lava, almost getting to my A-Frame but getting side tracked. It wasn't a pleasant dream let me tell you. 6 hours of walking on lava in the physical reality wasn't enough, I had to dream about it for who knows how long.
In the morning, I couldn't walk, my feet hurt so bad. I went to show Adria my feet, which were red, oozing and raw. She was asleep and didn't realize the hideous feet before her. She told me to wash them and put some neosporin and salve on them. I did these things and went back to bed.
I hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day so hunger woke me at 12:00. I saw Adria at lunch and when she saw my feet she freaked. She didn’t realize they were so bad. They had big drops of pus on them when I showed her. She cleaned them with hot water and soap and then just hot water. Aloe and tea? Then she rinsed them and bandaged them. She is such an angel. I thank her greatly for that. Every day after that she did the same. And now on November 6th 1997 at 10:10 PM, the blisters are all almost completely healed. My feet do hurt a lot still but I have skin on my toes and I’m thankful for that. So that was Jessica meets Pele. The end.