A photo of a ladder in a collapsed lava tube.

The National Park Service installed many stairs and pathways to help protect the lava tubes. This stairway is in the entrance to Hopkins Chocolate Cave. Note the "lava-cicles" (or lava stalactites) on the rock surface above the stairs. These probably formed from molten rock splashing onto the roof of the tube at the time lava was flowing in the passage (Harter, 1982). Lava-cicles are common in most of the un-collapsed sections of the lava tubes throughout the park.