One of my favorite adventure travel experiences of all
time was when I hiked to the top of Villarica
volcano in Chile and stared down into the bubbling red guts of Mother earth. I had to wear a gas mask, lest the
poisonous fumes emanating from the crater enter my lungs and take my life away, but looking down was an exhilarating,
once in a lifetime experience.
Of course, if you want to see the inside of a volcano, I’d certainly suggest
you buy a ticket down to Chile. But if that’s not on your immediate agenda, well, you can have a somewhat similar
experience by going to this site about the Augustine
Volcano in Alaska, a fiery peak on an uninhabited island about 175 miles southwest of Anchorage, which came to life
on January 11 with an explosion that shot ash miles into the air.
The site is popular among both
vulcanologists, vulcans and amateurs alike, and even if the volcanoes live Web cam is not showing showers of lava at
the moment, you can check out the archive of cool photos that does show
some excellent action. And of course, there is also a lot of information about the volcano itself so you can beef up
your understanding of one of or planet’s more fascinating phenomena.