Volcano - Blog Posts
Artfight attack for @silverd64 ! Here's Shusaku (Volcanoman) holding an ocelot, apparently one of his favorite animals!
Beware the Butt Volcano !!!
Iztaccíhuatl, the sleeping woman
https://elincorrecto.mx/2025/puebla/alpinista-se-asoma-al-crater-del-popocatepetl-y-capta-foto-impresionante-desde-las-entranas-del-volcan/50387/
cráter del popocatépetl
Sitting on the top of inactive volcano! Such a great view there, but one problem.. Wind was too strong! You can't tell it by looking at this shot, so sad! 😂🤙 . . . . . #iceland #gopro #goprohero6 #goprohero #goprophotography #goprophotography_ #goprolife #goprouniverse #goprooftheday #gopromoff #volcano #landscapes #travel #travelphotography #travelblogger #traveling #traveler #travelgram #traveldeeper #travellife #likeforlikes #like4likes #likeforlikeback #ig_actioncam #ideiasgp #uniladadventure #passionpassport #bestplacestogo #uniladadventure #passionpassport (at Iceland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BphboNEFabN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lgaexgattmw8
Walking the edge of Bromo Crater. Would you hike this route ? East Java, Indonesia 🇮🇩 🎥 @backpackertampan
planetearthtv
Oddly shaped lava formations look like a mass of twisted bodies in Hawaii shot by Laszlo Kestay (1996)
The burning sun begins to set behind a large volcano.
Rainbows on rainbows on rainbows. BEAUTIFUL HAWAIIAN COASTLINE!
📷: @bejamin
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#NatureNestd #Nature #Earth #Environment #Natural #Hike #PicOfTheDay #Adventure #Explore #Photography #Hawaii #Hawaiian #Coastline #Ocean #Volcano #Helicopter #📷
#NatureWomenWednesday
Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you.
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#NatureNestd #Nature #Earth #Plants #Environment #Environmental #Natural #Hike #PicOfTheDay #Forest #Photography #Global #Mountains #wcw #Volcano #Sea #Ocean
Views from Ôwakudani
As the volcano's activity isn't explosive, and there's a whole hot spring business around it, humans have been trying to tame Mount Hakone, as evidenced by the many consolidation structures seen at Ôwakudani.
These continue down the valley to contain landslides which could happen if things get more intense. Nonetheless, occasionally, a gas vent juts out, placing a distinctly natural form amongst the organised, man-made network of walls.
The yellow deposits are typically sulphur from a very pungent gas. Depending on the direction of the wind, the smell in some locations on the summit can be quite literally breathtaking.
The views, meanwhile, are figuratively breathtaking, from the striking contrasts in vegetation in the foreground to Lake Ashi and the outer mountain range of the Hakone caldera in the background.
And, of course, it is possible to see Mount Fuji from Ôwakudani. Terms and conditions apply, as always, but what little I could see on that morning gives a sense of scale to the great mountain. However, later that day, we would be treated to a much clearer view of Fuji-san.
What to do at Ôwakudani
... or what to do on the summit of an active volcano. As inauspicious as that sounds, as long as Mount Hakone's activity can be described as moderate (localised fumaroles and hot springs) and a full-blown eruption doesn't happen, and that hasn't happened in thousands of years, it's possible to settle some permanent attractions. The Ropeway is undoubtedly one of them, and the Geomuseum, housing explanations about the mountain's history and geological peculiarities, was a very pertinent addition 10 years ago.
However, the summit's biggest draw has to be its black eggs. No, black eggs aren't what you get when you raise chickens at the top of an active volcano, but it's what you get when you boil eggs in the natural volcanic spring water on Mount Hakone.
So a few restaurants have popped up in Ôwakudani to serve these curious delicacies. To be clear, it's just the shells that turn black due to the minerals in the hot spring water; they still protect the inside from those minerals, and the egg cooks perfectly normally, and the edible parts are still white and yellow. Apparently, I don't eat hard-boiled eggs.
The eggs are cooked in the steaming plant next to this fumarole further up the hill. It can be visited via a trail through some less stable ground. If I remember correctly, this trail is only open at certain times for a limited number of people at a time. Although it's only 300 metres from the main part of Ôwakudani, half a dozen shelters have been installed in case of emergency (one such concrete structure can be seen behind the steaming plant).
But how do the eggs get up there if the trail isn't always open? With their own lovely little ropeway! White eggs go up, black eggs come down, ready to be served in the restaurants!
Hakone Ropeway
The gondola lift up the Schauinsland is very good, but my favourite so far is definitely the Hakone Ropeway. After the train into Hakone, another train to Gôra, and a funicular, the last leg up the mountain is covered by this funitel, on which cars are suspended by two cables rather than one.
The Ropeway carries passengers up to Ôwakudani through the forest... at least as far as that ridge.
Mount Hakone is an active volcano and "Ôwakudani", 大涌谷, literally means "great boiling valley", featuring bright yellow sulphur deposits and gas vents. Going from lush green slopes to the mineral hellscape of the crater in an instant is a breathtaking contrast, and one of my all-time favourite moments from my travels.
The Ropeway can obviously only run when the volcano isn't too active. When I first rode it in 2016, staff handed out damp tissues for passengers to cover their nose and mouth and protect themselves against the gases. After traversing the crater, the Ropeway continues down the other side of the mountain to the North end of Lake Ashi, where one would continue a tour by boarding one of the "pirate ships" that cruise on the lake.
Summer highlight reel: Hegau
Towering around 250 m above the industrial city of Singen, the Hohentwiel is one of many reminders of the geological history near the Bodensee, or Lake Constance. This whole area was once volcanic, then the softer rock was eroded by the ice age, leaving this type of steep structure, around the old volcanic tube, behind.
A mountain like this would not have been easy to climb, especially when laden with weapons and armour, so unsurprisingly, several summits have fortress ruins on them. Hohentwiel is one of them (more on that and the climb - oh, the climb! - in another post), and Hohenkrähen, that rock jutting out ahead, is another.
The views from the top of Hohentwiel are just splendid. Two more ex-volcanoes are visible here: the Hohenstoffeln to the left, and the Hohenhewen to the right - there are lots of 'hohens' in Hegau, but it just means they're higher than villages. The weather was something to admire that day too, with showers floating around, like this one over the Schaffhausen area.
