Watching a live volcano at dusk has become a spectator sport at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

We found a bit of a traffic jam at the top of the mountain, and a uniformed ranger with a lighted wand guided us into an unmarked spot at a way-corner of the big parking lot.

The Jagger Observation Center was packed with folks.

Down there it erupts.

I felt somewhat odd, standing with hundreds, rooting for a live volcano to rise higher as dark gathered.

If this baby really blows, life for so many will be altered. Or end.

My brother-in-law Scott, long with the Army Corps of Engineers, assured me that scientists keep a keen measure of it.

Darker, higher.

So I savored and pushed the button on my iPhone 6s.

Glowing.

When Karen and I visited this very spot in 2010, there was no lava in this crater. To me, that signals fast change.

Nature’s decisions.

These things are beyond me. Way.

Tomorrow: Touring Kona’s beer-maker