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Stay on the marked route! The rock of lava fields is too hard to make a beaten path through. Typically, you’ll follow cairns through pahoehoe (the smoother form of lava), aa (pronounced ah-ahi; the chunky, rough form), or (rarely) a beaten path through cinders. Cairns are big piles of rocks obviously made by people. The cairns mark out a safe route for you. Lava fields are dangerous places to go wandering around. Apparently solid lava can turn out to be nothing but a fragile shell over a lava tube, collapsing when you put your weight on it. You could be in for a nasty, even fatal, fall. The one time you need to get a little off-route is when you have to go to the bathroom; see below.

Routes on active volcanoes can change: Routes on Mauna Loa and Kilauea can change abruptly because of an eruption. That might make the cairn-marked route vary from its description in this book. Follow the cairns, not the description.

Number 2 in the lava: You can dig a hole in cinders, but digging a hole in aa or pahoehoe is impossible. As a result, too many people leave various gross objects sitting out on the lava: feces, tissues, tampons, etc. If possible, wait until you get to a toilet. Otherwise, look a little off-route for a small crevice in which to defecate (but be careful about going off-route). You may not be able to find a suitable crevice. With or without a crevice, completely cover your feces with rocks. It takes a lot of rocks; you’ll have built quite a little rockpile by the time you’re through, though not one big enough to be confused with a cairn. In aa, you can use the smaller chunks of lava. In pahoehoe, the crust is often easy to break into plates you can build with. Carry your tissues, tampons, etc., out.