A shot of neighboring Mauna Loa. Hawaiian lava is not explosive, which is why the volcanoes here have extremely long and gradual slopes. Mauna Kea is where ancient Hawaiian's believed the god of fire lived (also where the active volcano presently is); Mauna Kea was the god of ice. The Hawaiians did not like to travel in the valley between the two because they thought it was their battle ground. If you enlarge the picture, the dark patches on Mauna Loa are old lava flows.