We ended up traveling to Mt. Etna on a cloudy day due to the sequence we saw the major sites in eastern Sicily. However, as we wound our way up the gigantic volcano, we passed the cloud deck around 6,000' and emerged into a crystal clear moonscape of black and rusty red volcanic rock. You could be forgiven for thinking you were on Mars.
After grabbing a quick lunch, we took the gondola up halfway to the summit where we then hopped onto the most rugged tour bus you've ever seen.
The bus bounced us up a dirt road past snow drifts and craters until we stopped just a few hundred feet below the smoking summit of the volcano. To our happy surprise, just six days early there had been a significant lava flow. We were able to walk up on the cooling lava which was now jagged and razor sharp igneous rock and feel the heat radiating up. A guide dug a few inches down and set a piece of paper in amongst the rocks and it started to turn red and burn from the heat. We even picked up a couple of the hot rocks and played hot potato. It wasn't just hot from the sun because it was about 32 degrees and extremely windy up at the top.
We found a sunken valley in the lava rocks that was sheltered from the wind and sat down for a nice picnic lunch with the food we bought earlier. Probably the highest picnic we'll ever have at about 11,000 feet.
After exploring for a while, Tyler decided to hike up a nearby path to get closer to the top while Laura opted to take the kids down to another viewpoint a short distance away. There was a slight sense of unease standing on the tippy top of an active volcano that had spewed a river of lava less than a week ago. Littering the ground all around were lava rocks that had been spit out during eruptions. Most of the rocks were black although there was some rusty red ones as well.
Tyler hiked up a shifty and pebbly trail to a magnificent ridge between two craters. The rocks up there were a kaleidoscope of reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, greys and blacks. Sulphur smoke escaped from multiple points in the craters all around next to white remnants of a recent storm.
While Tyler explored on his own, Laura sat with a sleeping Claire overlooking a vast valley on the side of the volcano that had formed during a gigantic eruption in the 1970's. Essentially, several square miles of the volcano's flank collapsed inward upon itself during the eruption. It appeared that God had taken a giant ice cream scoop and taken away a gigantic section of the mountain. It was a very epic viewpoint.
We caught the second to last bus down from the top worn out and slightly dehydrated. On the drive back down the mountain we passed a lava flow that traveled dozens of kilometers down the mountain. This black river of rock had cut off roads, surrounded houses and even flooded a small church with six feet of lava.
It was a spectacular and unforgettable day that we shared as a family. What a trip.
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