Karen and Crew: Mt. Etna

We live by a volcano called Mt. Etna. On clear days you can see in looming in the distance. But more often since we have been here, it is hiding in the clouds. Sometime during our second week, Jess had a history lesson about Mt. Vesuvius erupting and burying the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in ash. That night we got a knock at the door. It was Upatissa. "Sir. The volcano. It is erupting! Come and see!" We go out to look and WOW. These pictures do not do it justice. They were taken with our quite ordinary camera, trying to hold still braced on the hood of the car. "The senator" said the lava plumes were shooting hundreds of meters up in the air. We watched the stunning show for over 20 minutes before calling it a night. Wow. Brilliant red against the black of night. We checked on it from our balcony before going to bed and it was still going.

This is as zoomed in as I could get the camera. Even sitting on the car, it's a bit wobbly, but you can still get glimpse of what we saw.

This is without any zoom. This is how we saw it, looming above the mall.

A few days later we were driving home from our beach excursion (that's for another post). Out the windows of the car, we see Mt Etna at it again. No lava this time, just smoking.

Last Saturday we decided to drive up and see it for ourselves. It was cloudy with some showers, but almost everyday is cloudy with showers and we can't let that stop us from ever going out. Using a combination of GPS, road signs and a good dose of luck, we made it up the mountain. Halfway up or so we saw a volcano casualty. We stopped to take a peek and take a picture. I have no idea how long ago this happened, but it had to be pre-road. Of course, we don't know how old the road is.

We got out and hiked around a bit at this level. I'm glad we did because it was way more cloudy/foggy at the top--well, the top parking lot. There were lava rocks in every shape and size. Most of the ones we were walking on were light and sounded like walking on briquettes. There were other areas that were smooth. Not much life. You can see we are bundled. It was very chilly up there. They will be opening up soon for ski season.

Through the mist you can see a grove of autumn trees. Somehow they have escaped the ravages of the volcano. But with the lava field in the foreground, it looks more like something burning in the background. It was an eerie sight.

We are standing by one of the old craters here. I think this is the one made in 1998. It was so amazing and unique that we have made resolutions to go back on a clear day. There are many other crates to hike to and caves to explore as well.