One of the most astounding things about Kilauea is how friendly it is. Not that one goes around disrespecting Madame Pele, the Goddess of the volcano in the traditional Hawaiian pantheon. But still, it is relatively safe, there's generally warning before volcanic activity starts, and eruptions are about fountains and rivers of lava that generally move pretty slowly, not huge explosions and city-burying clouds of ash and dust. The main crater at Kilauea hasn't actually been the locus of volcanic activity in decades, and so the Park has marked out a hiking trail across the bottom of the crater itself. Plants are growing there, including this 'Ohia tree, but it's undeniably odd to know that you're wandering across a relatively thin and (geologically speaking) recent plug of cooled lava below which lies all of nature's fury.