Personal Narrative: The Hard Way

When I looked straight up, two, majestic peaks stared into my eyes. They were the same but different; one peak sat lower, he seemed to look up to his older brother. At the same time, the peaks were of the same stature, they both looked like chocolate-dipped waffle cones that sat upside down. The peaks were surrounded by glistening, white puffs of cotton candy that only on occasion moved for me to see. They were shy, but when the clouds parted they were the only things that my eyes wanted to observe. The volcano was quite grand and stood its ground, it was immovable. Its base was like an ancient oak tree that had rooted itself deep into the fertile ground. Arenal and its twin peaks were the eyes of God that

learn about until this time. Listed below are a few of the things that the eruption of Mount

Hey, I’m in Alaska at Katmai National Park. This park is on a peninsula and is surrounded by beautiful waters. We’ve only been here for two days, but I’m already amazed by this breathtaking tract of 4,021,327 acres. There is this cool place called the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The beautiful scenery was the cause of the largest volcanic eruption in the twenty-first century. The valley that used to be an abundance of green, became covered in 700 feet of volcanic matter from the Novarupta. Poisonous gas seeping from the ash, gives this valley its name as the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. It was amazing to imagine that such a tragic, dangerous, and mysterious event could have created a beautiful landscape. After our hike through the valley

21 days from the start of our journey, we came across a volcano near Tenerife. There was a lot of smoke and ash. Most of

Alex, a trained volcanologist, dreams of a life away from Kilauea. His first chance to walk on a volcano that hasn't towered over his life under his father's professorship. Except. He didn't expect a volcano to stir to life under his feet in the often forgotten volcanic plains of New Mexico.

Visitors at the Jagger Museum (observation points and around the crater drive are catching quite a show. This is something that doesn’t pose a threat to any residents of the area and is actually quite a treat to experience the show of the spattering lava lake for those who travel to the volcano. Lava flow continues from vents at the southeast edge of the crater at Pu’u’ O O.

USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Yellowstone FAQs: Questions About Yellowstone Research." USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Yellowstone FAQs: Questions About Yellowstone Research. November 15, 2011. Accessed December 13, 2015.

On May 18, 1980 an earthquake caused Mount St Helen to erupt. It is one of the most significant geological events in the U.S. during the 20th century. The amount of energy output that day was like 400 million tons of TNT. The eruption caused many waves on the Spirit Lake that stripped the forest from the slope adjacent to the lake. This created an enormous log mat that was made of millions of prone floating trunks that occupied about two square miles of the lake. This event gives us a rare opportunity to study things that scientists have said take thousands of

Fortunately for ogling tourists, reporters and scientists their sudden cathexis will not be threatened with death anytime soon, since the lava is escaping the caldera by way of the east side of the mountain, via an uninhabited area called the Grand Brule, or the Big Burned, towards the sea. Although some reporters may be nursing repressed memories of volcanoes that did threaten the curious--namely those of the years 1977 and

The researchers found that at Eyjafjallajökull's vent, upwelling magma violently reacted with nearby glacial water. This rapid cooling made the magma contract and fragment into fine, jagged motes of ash. Near the end of the eruption, equally fine, porous ash was generated when small gas bubbles trapped in the molten rock expanded as the magma neared the surface.

Mount Etna is one of the world’s largest volcanoes, towering at 3340 meters above sea level and spanning an area of about 210 kilometers. (Mercantanti, 2013) Its most destructive eruption occurred in 1669 and it still erupts and spews smoke to this day. Its eruptions can be both devastating and beneficial. Although the explosions have the potential to wreak havoc on the environment, towns, and human health; it also provides volcanic rock and ash which expand and fertilize the land. The rich soil that the volcano supplies is responsible for bountiful and high-quality crops. The volcanic rock is used in construction and decoration. (Mercantanti, 2013)

The media has engendered the critical opprobrium of volcanoes with their triumphant essays at delineating volcanic eruptions so as to give the impression that they are devastating and precarious. As a result, the negative stigma encompassing volcanoes and their concomitants permeates all walks of life. Under the nourishment of ignorance and fear, which are constituents of the human condition, antipathy multiplies. Ergo, Homo sapiens, possessing complex cognitive neural processes, are predisposed to the fallacious notion that assumes volcanoes have deleterious effects on the progression of humankind. The precise definition of the term volcano is profoundly convoluted, as a myriad of labyrinthine systems engage in volcanic activity. On loci where

Volcanoes: these powerful forces of nature are some of the most dangerous landforms on our planet, but how do they work? We investigated just that in our final unit of the year, which focused primarily on volcanoes and their many varying features. What differences do volcanoes have, and how do these differences provide clues about what happens beneath the Earth’s surface? These are the questions we asked during this unit, and we uncovered many fascinating answers through texts, films, and activities.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I was 14, and on a trip with my Boy Scout troop into the White Mountains. This weekend, we were planning to hike to the mouth of Tuckerman’s Ravine, and camp for a night, before walking back down. It was a cold, blustery morning, and we could just see the slightest bit of snow on the looming mountain before it disappeared into the clouds. I had my backpack on, with all of the things that I would need once we arrived at our campsite. I had packed, unpacked, and repacked it more times than I could count, because I knew that those were the only supplies I would have. As we began our 2 mile trek, up steep, snow covered hills, I was both excited, and nervous about what I was getting myself into.

It was 9:30 am in the Yosemite. It was time for the orienteering hike. This hike was infamous in our troop, our boy scout troop is unlike any other. We are consider on of the toughest troops in the country to earn the highly regarded rank of Eagle. This hike is considered the right of passage in my troop, this orienteering hike was eight miles or grueling terrain designed to test one’s physical fitness and orienteering skills. The hike is supposed to take 3 hours, but almost every older scout takes much longer, not because of a lack of skill, but rather the sheer difficulty of this course. As I sat on the rock by the 45 degree snow melt lake my fellow life scout and I discussed the rumors we heard from all of the older Eagle Scouts,