Ordinarily before I go on holiday I research & research as I hate the idea of missing anything along the way. This can take some of the pleasure out of a trip a degree as you've already seen what you're going to be seeing, if you see what I mean? But this was different. The route was pre-determined(ish) & the mileages meant we had little option other than go from A to B and enjoy whatever we stumbled across; there was little time for lengthy excursions. Besides which, Chris had done all of the hard work for us.
Consequently I had no idea to expect when I got here. But what a place. I had vague recollections of the volcano going 'pop' some years ago & that was it. Turns out there was a little bit more to it than that. In essence half a mountain was blown away by the eruption with the consequent death & destruction you might expect with such brutal force.
Where once there had been a full mountain there was now 2/3rd of a mountain. You can clearly see the crater that was created by the explosion.
and for the short sighted amongst you, here it is again
The lava flows had torn up enormous trees & destroyed everything in their path.
I stood & listened to one of the Rangers (horrible name that BTW) giving a fascinating talk about the explosion & the events leading up to it. This included a an actual recording of one of the observers final words before the lave flow swallowed him up, very moving indeed. There was also a honeymooning couple camping in the next valley where they thought they would be safe, but unfortunately they died as well. No jokes here about the earth moving for them, as that would be inappropriate and tasteless which is not my style (cough).
I spent much longer here than I thought I would & thoroughly enjoyed it. It's worth a full day on it's own some time as you can do guided trail walks right up to the mountain itself, we were about 5 miles away I think.
Eventually Sandra (in the red) & Glyn joined us. Again, 2 of the nicest, people I've ever met (are you spotting a theme here?).
They were a little delayed as Sandra had spotted a bird of prey on the way up & taken a snap. She was so thrilled. Even though it was actually a crow.
Time to head off but not before I had a fabulous hot dog from the burger van in the car park - yum.
You'll see from the photo above just how few vehicles there are in the car park. When you factor in that some of these belong to the Rangers (there's that horrible word again) & people working in the observatory you'll see why the up felt like my own private racetrack. The ride down was even better than the ride up, I just concentrated on enjoying myself & didn't worry about photos until I got near to the bottom.
Consequently I had no idea to expect when I got here. But what a place. I had vague recollections of the volcano going 'pop' some years ago & that was it. Turns out there was a little bit more to it than that. In essence half a mountain was blown away by the eruption with the consequent death & destruction you might expect with such brutal force.
Where once there had been a full mountain there was now 2/3rd of a mountain. You can clearly see the crater that was created by the explosion.
and for the short sighted amongst you, here it is again
The lava flows had torn up enormous trees & destroyed everything in their path.
I stood & listened to one of the Rangers (horrible name that BTW) giving a fascinating talk about the explosion & the events leading up to it. This included a an actual recording of one of the observers final words before the lave flow swallowed him up, very moving indeed. There was also a honeymooning couple camping in the next valley where they thought they would be safe, but unfortunately they died as well. No jokes here about the earth moving for them, as that would be inappropriate and tasteless which is not my style (cough).
I spent much longer here than I thought I would & thoroughly enjoyed it. It's worth a full day on it's own some time as you can do guided trail walks right up to the mountain itself, we were about 5 miles away I think.
Eventually Sandra (in the red) & Glyn joined us. Again, 2 of the nicest, people I've ever met (are you spotting a theme here?).
They were a little delayed as Sandra had spotted a bird of prey on the way up & taken a snap. She was so thrilled. Even though it was actually a crow.
Time to head off but not before I had a fabulous hot dog from the burger van in the car park - yum.
You'll see from the photo above just how few vehicles there are in the car park. When you factor in that some of these belong to the Rangers (there's that horrible word again) & people working in the observatory you'll see why the up felt like my own private racetrack. The ride down was even better than the ride up, I just concentrated on enjoying myself & didn't worry about photos until I got near to the bottom.
