September 25, 2025 — The closed portion of Crater Rim Drive Road at Kīlauea summit

The tire tracks in this photo trace the path of Crater Rim Drive (closed to the public) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. This part of the road is covered by tephra erupted from Kīlauea volcano since December 23, 2024. Where the photo is taken the tephra is over 5 feet thick, increasing to over 60 feet thick at the mound of tephra on the skyline. Visible along the tire tracks are three orange sample collection buckets. There are also ʻōhiʻa lehua trees that have suffered a lot of damage during high lava fountaining episodes when tephra falls on them, defoliating them, striping their bark in places, and breaking branches. USGS photo by M. Decker.