Puʻu ʻOʻo vent saw the longest-lasting and most voluminous of the Kilauea's eruptions, oozing an estimated 80 to 160 million gallons of lava per day, or 120 to 240 Olympic-sized swimming pools' worth, until it all suddenly disappeared in late April 2018 – the first clue to vulcanologists that something very big was about to go down.
Over the next few days, the missing lava, along with dormant lava from previous eruptions, made its way down the lower East Rift Zone, eventually breaking through some 24 fissures around Puna as part of the 2018 lower Puna eruption. It caused enormous damage and forever altered the landscape of the Big Island. Originally called Puʻu O after a cartographic coincidence – the eruption started in 1983 smack in the middle of a letter 'o' on the map – Kalapana elders later bestowed the name ʻOʻo meaning 'the stick for digging', recalling stories of Pele. You can now hike to Puʻu ʻOʻo's base on a extension opened in 2019 from Napau Crater Trail.
