Georgia occupies an area of about 70 000 sq km (population 5,5 million) and is thus twice the size of Belgium and nearly twice as large as Switzerland. It takes up the central and Western pairs of Transcaucasia. In the West it is open the Black sea. Georgia is a mountainous country. In the North rises the greater Caucasus system of mountain ranges and is situated at the boundary of two climatic zones - moderate and subtropical. There are many rivers and they flow into the Black and Caspian seas.

Bill-on-the-Hill

All good things must end, including this trip. After a fairly unsatisfactory night in West Yellowstone, we packed up and went back to the Upper Geyser Basin for one last bit of gazing, of which I must make an admission: that great shot of Grand Geyser from my earlier report was actually taken on this day. Poetic license and all that. Still no action from Giant Geyser, so I won't repeat the description of the joys of "the Cage", even though we did spend more time there before heading south. I will, however, make some remarks on geyser-gazer sociology.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Mainly more of the same today, with the main attraction (Giant Geyser) continuing to be coy. There was some fine wildlife watching to go along with the geyser gazing, however, and some excellent advice from the hard-core gazers led to a surprisingly good dinner in a place that I didn't know offered any edible food at all.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Labor Day, and the start of some serious geyser gazing. We saw a number of things we had never seen before, and had some close-up wildlife encounters. However, the thing that will stick in our minds from this day, entirely consistent with our experience on the Italian volcanoes, was the one we did not see -- just barely.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Mainly a travel day, so this will be short, with a minor rant along the way. No Web Site du Jour or photos, either. Just what is this world coming to?

Bill-on-the-Hill

So what is a "geologic roto-tiller"? Well, that's the colorful description applied to the terrain of Yellowstone National Park by a reference work that I'll get back to later (and recommend). Emily and I spent most of the past week at Yellowstone, seeing extraordinary things and meeting extraordinary people, and I will report on the trip at length. This first installment, however, simply deals with getting there, which was not as straightforward as it might be ...

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Let me start this one with the Web Site du Jour, which will explain some of the background for this trip: http://www.run100s.com/HR/, home page of the Hard Rock Hundred-Mile Endurance Race, based in Silverton, Colorado, USA. No, I'm not crazy, or fit, enough to run in this thing, but the article will give you a sense of the healthy-yet-happy weirdness of Silverton, where Emily and I spent a very pleasant weekend a couple of weeks ago.

Scenery above Ice Lake Basin. The prominent shark's-fin peak is Golden Horn, elevation around 13,700'. Despite its jagged appearance, it's not considered a difficult ascent. (No, we didn't climb it on this trip, but there will be other trips...)

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The last full day of our Volcano Discovery outing, and we've saved the best for last. This was the day for descending the Valle del Bove, a massive collapse structure on the side of Mount Etna. I've been in a lot of mountain valleys in my life, but it's fair to say I'd never been in one quite like this before, and with a fantastic going-away banquet afterward in Nicolosi town to boot.

Bill and Pete in the Valle del Bove, having a typical brotherly competition to see who can look more nonchalant while surrounded by wonders.

Yes, we really did just come down that -- and there are two thousand feet of it left to do.

The parade plunge-stepping into the Valle del Bove. This shot only hints at the Stygian nature of the place; to the eye, the rock is much darker, and to the feet, the grade is much steeper, than the photo suggests.

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The big thing about this day was that it stank. Well, actually, that was the whole idea, because our destination was the active crater of Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes and its second largest source of malodorous sulfur dioxide and other evil gases. Why, you say, would anyone want to go to such a place? Read on ...

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If you've waded through the previous days of this, you may be wondering, "So if the whole idea of this outing was to see volcanoes, why call the thread Bill versus the volcano? Seems contrary to the goal." Well, laying aside a certain movie reference, there's a reason, and today's events will begin to explain what it is.

Rockfall in the Sciara del Fuoco, giving an idea why they don't let you hike into it ...

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Fourth day of the trip, and time to start doing what we came for, namely hiking into some weird places -- like, say, the crater of an active volcano.

Elemental sulfur in the orifice of a fumarole on Vulcano. The central rock is about 8 inches in diameter. Just barely visible on the left are one or two little orange dots. These are drops of ''molten'' sulfur produced by the heat of the volcanic activity. You won't find these at many other places on earth -- at least not very many you'd want to hike to.

Inner crater of Gran Cratere, Vulcano. There's a little human dot in the lower-to-middle right-hand part of the photo; that's "D," who's descending a possibly-not-entirely-official trail to the crater bottom -- which was molten lava only about 110 years ago.

On the trail up to Gran Cratere at the top of Vulcano. From left: Emily, WGMIL (World's Greatest Mother-In-Law), D and Z. Lipari island in background. From this point the hike would start to smell bad, and it wasn't because of the hikers ...

Looking into the active crater of Vulcano, in the Aeolian Islands. The trail around the crater is visible on the left.

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In which our geologically- and outdoors-inclined heroes see the ruins of Pompeii, mountains of garbage, and of course, the Vesuvius. Yes, I'm aware that customary usage in English does not refer to the world's most famous volcano as "the" Vesuvius, but there's a reason for this phrasing; more on that later.

Crater of Vesuvius, with admiring Wikitravellers

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OK, so here begins the much-delayed blogging of a 25th-wedding-anniversary trip to Italy, participants in which were my wife, our two college-student sons, the World's Greatest Mother-In-Law (hereinafter WGMIL), and of course, myself.

maj

Q: It's really helpful to read your article "Big Back Yard: The Lazy Hikers Top Three ". I am going to Switzerland with a friend this winter, want to try the "non-ninny way" in Leukerbaud for the spa. Do you think it's possible to do this in the winter with all the snow on the mountains if the weather is nice enough?