Panorama taken from the Southewest Rift near Halemaumau Crater in Hawaii. The crater is about 200m below the viewing point. I climbed into a gully and made my way out a little towards the rim of the Kilauea Caldera, but self preservation kicked in and not knowing the area at all decided that this was far enough. An impressive site. You can see white clouds of steam rising from the rim of the crater. The shape of the crater is very visible in the satellite view of the map, rimmed white by the steam vents.

Southwest Rift and Halema'uma'u Crater - Hawaii Island visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Southwest Rift and Halema'uma'u Crater' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Hawaii.

Halema'uma'u Crater is a pit crater within the much larger in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It is almost circular, about 770 x 900 metres, penetrating 83 metres into the floor of Kīlauea caldera. It was involved in the 1790 eruption that formed the ash fields of the Ka'u Desert in the Southwest Rift Zone.

The bottom of the crater is formed of lava flows from many different eruptions. About 50% of it dates from an eruption in the 1940's. In March 2008 Halema'uma'u Crater began emitting more clouds of gasses. In 2009, continuing eruptions from the new vent in the crater have caused part of the Crater Rim Drive between Chain of Craters Road and Thurston Lava Tube to be shut, and air quality warnings to be issued in the area.

Check the closed area page on the park website for current status of the area.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
P.O. Box 52
Hawai'i National Park,
Hawaii Island
HI 96718-0052

Car: The Southwest Rift and Halema'uma'u Crater overlook is about 4 miles from the park entrance on Crater Rim Drive. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is 28 miles from Hilo and 96 miles from Kailua-Kona.