Photo of the Day (5.23.09)

Just a quick glance at this photo from styggiti, which was taken just two months ago in March 2009, shows that the Big Island’s volcano — the most active in the world today — is alive and well. My last visit to the magical Volcano National Park was during a full moon, and the a’a (fresh, smooth, hard lava rock) glimmered in the moonlight so white that I felt like I was walking on water.

This stunning photo captures the natural wonder of Hawaii’s active volcano. You can touch the warm rock and snap photos of it, but you mustn’t take even a single stone home with you. Pele, Hawaii’s fire goddess, has a reputation of making your life miserable if you do, and there are countless stories of visitors returning stolen lava rocks to Volcano.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!