volcano
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Bill versus the volcano (X)
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 versus the volcano (IX)
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 ...
Pe-yew!
Etna crater
Sapienza shuttles
The shuttles that take one from the top of the Sapienza funicular to the starting point for hikes to the summit of Etna, if you're crazy enough to want to do that. Lots of bleak here...
Ginostra prickly pear
A prickly-pear cactus near the village of Ginostra, showing a piece of volcanic rock that had been blasted into it at the time of Stromboli's last significant explosive eruption in 2003. Bet that hurt!
Sciara del Fuoco
Stromboli puff
A "puff" of ash from the crater of Stromboli volcano, as viewed from the 400-meter level. The brownish color says that there's volcanic ash in this, not just the steam that Stromboli emits all the time.
Sulfur on Vulcano
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.
Vulcano inner crater
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.
Hiking up Vulcano
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 ...
Crater of Vulcano
Looking into the active crater of Vulcano, in the Aeolian Islands. The trail around the crater is visible on the left.
Taormina, Etna, and amphitheater
The Italian resort village of Taormina, seen through the ruins of the ancient amphitheater, with Mount Etna in the background.
