Kilauea Volcano is in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and is the earth’s most active volcano, sending Lava to the sea pretty much continuously since 1983, though the flow of lava and the patterns vary considerably.    Here are my own Kilauea pictures from a 2005 trip out into the lava flows:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeduck/sets/72157594538064050/with/391552231/

The Volcano is in Kilauea Volcanic National Park and is located in the south of the “Big Island” aka Hawaiia, not to be confused with Oahu – the Island with most of the people, the big city of Honolulu, and many scenes from Hawaii 5-0.

Recent Activity from National Park Service NPS at Kilauea National Park: In the east rift zone: Pu`u `O`o crater walls continued to collapse; lava was trickling back onto the collapsed crater floor; lava continued to issue from west flank vents and pond near the vents. At the summit, the lava lake surface continued to recede. Seismicity was low. Gas emissions remained elevated from summit and rift zone vents.    (Photo courtesy Hawaii Volcano Observatory).

Middle east rift zone vents: The walls of Pu`u `O`o Crater continued to collapse yesterday including a block immediately to the left of the webcam which dropped in overnight. A trickle of lava returned to the very deepest part of the collapsed crater floor yesterday morning and was visible in the webcam overnight. During yesterday’s overflight, the depth of the collapse was measured at about 75 m (245 ft) below the east rim. The flows that gushed out of the west flank vents on August 3rd remained active but with the outer limits of activity retreating back toward the sources; in other words, lower effusion rates weren’t allowing the active lava to travel as far from the vents before solidifying. The flows remained entirely within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and pose no direct hazard to any developed areas.

The GPS network around Pu`u `O`o Cone recorded slow contraction across the cone overnight. The tiltmeter on the north flank of Pu`u `O`o Cone recorded continued deflation. Seismic tremor levels were low. The most recent (preliminary) sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 3,100 tonnes/day on August 4, 2011, from all east rift zone sources.

Background from NPS Kilauea  National Park: The eruption of Kilauea’s middle east rift zone started with a fissure eruption on January 3, 1983, and has continued with few interruptions through Pu`u `O`o Crater or vents within a few kilometers to the east or west. Since late March, lava has been filling the collapsed crater within Pu`u `O`o Cone, first building a perched lava lake that, in July, evolved into a shield with the lake at its top as a result of uplift of the crater floor and lake. In early August, the crater floor again collapsed as lava burst from vents on the west flank of Pu`u `O`o cone.

Yosemite National Park in California, USA was one of the USA’s first protected natural areas and an early US National Park.

The area of over 1000 square miles, mostly wilderness, is recognized around the globe as one of the world’s most beautiful and sublime mountain landscapes.

Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls tumble thousands of feet over sheer granite cliffs into the valley below, joining the quiet Merced River as it winds through forest and meadow.

El Capitan’s 3000 foot sheer cliff and Half Dome are two of the most striking granite features in the world.

Yosemite is the most famous of California’s five National Parks and stands with Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming as one of the USA’s most famous national parks, known worldwide for both its natural beauty and for the role it played in fostering the works of John Muir and the parks and environmental protection movements.

Yosemite was home to Scottish born naturalist John Muir and was the source of much of Muir’s inspiration as his writings led to profound changes in the way Americans viewed the wilderness. Yosemite park is a critical key to an understanding of the Sierra Club, one of America’s most influential voices for the preservation of wilderness. Today, Yosemite remains one of America’s finest unspoiled natural landscapes and will always rank as one of the greatest of all the world’s natural treasures.

Hike to Half Dome
Hike to Clouds Rest
More Yosemite Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=yosemite&w=all&s=int
National Park Service Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm

Just back from Yosemite National Park in California I’m even more convinced that the UNESCO World Heritage Site list is a great way to guarantee you find fantastic places as you visit countries around the world.      Obviously no small list can be completely fair or inclusive, especially for the huge territory of the USA, but this is a GREAT group of extraordinary natural and cultural places:

• Mesa Verde National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Everglades National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Independence Hall
• Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek ^# * ³⁴
• Redwood National and State Parks
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Olympic National Park
• Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
• La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Statue of Liberty
• Yosemite National Park ^#
• Chaco Culture
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ^#
• Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
• Pueblo de Taos
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Waterton Glacier International Peace Park *
• Papahānaumokuākea

Clearly this approach to travel in the USA would probably be supplemented by at least a few days of big city sightseeing.     Many coming to America may want to see places like Las Vegas and  Hollywood which are unlikely to ever have “UNESCO World Heritage” status.    But the UNESCO list is a  superb starting points for your travel, especially to unfamiliar areas.     For the trip to Vietnam I was happy that the list seems to match up well with the “word of mouth” information I’ve been collecting from my Vietnamese pals and others.    There I’ll be able to take in most of the UNESCO sites such as historic Hoi An, Saigon, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay near Hanoi.      In Italy in June my favorite place was the Cinque Terre – a UNESCO site.      Interestingly, the Cinque Terre and some places really seem to play up this status where I didn’t even know Yosemite was on the list until I checked this morning.