As we were unable to really visit Mt. Aso in February due to the then still closed rim walk because of the eruption and destruction of 2015 / 2016 we were quite happy to discover that now at least parts were opened again. So our trip went there to explore.
The country is rough and beautiful…
You can drive all the way up to the crater rim
for some 400 JPY and then park alongside the other tourists. Fortunately the weather was not that good and it was quite late in the year – no idea what goes on in August or July. Well, this year with all the typhoons (actually the last one was over just a day ago…) it was not fun either
alongside the as they say „temporary damaged“ rope-way – to me this looks rather final, but don’t let us argue about intricate details…
Quite a lot of eruption dust gathered
So they removed the dirt, created a new fence
and sell the old souvenir stuff again. I just wonder which chemical factory they get it from – in this pure form sulphur almost never occurs – at least not in these amounts…
Ahhh – the caldera lake. As the volcano is still (very much) active the warning for the hazardous gases goes all the time from 1 to 4 up and down. The lake is nicely bubbling at the bottom
Amazing colours
And more steam
No wonder they tell people with asthma, heart conditions, etc. should stay away. It’s a pretty lethal cocktail which makes you dizzy. That was a big one again
Different layers of eruptions
You could walk the whole rim in the past – now everything is off limit (quite for sure for good). Last time we did it (some 5 years ago) ladies had high heels, flip flops, etc. – very proper footwear for a volcano hike
Around 200 m of crater wall
Again these colours
Alongside the crater are several more and in between used to be a meadow. Used to… Now it’s a barren landscape full of small ash / sand
With bizarre openings ot other calderas
The flying rocks are hot – so they burn the wooden walkway
And can get quite big as well as fast. Actually these „bombs“ can be flying several kilometers
And disintegrate over time
and time, and time, and time…
until they are just dust again
the black ground is a nice background
This sign perhaps told „beware of flying rocks“??
Colours…
and a last view from the distance
on the way down you can see an almost perfect volcano
The sunlight was so nice…
backdrop…
There is the beauty in full
And as usual people settle in these calderas as they are among the most fertile places on earth…
and the most dangerous – if you imagine the force creating this caldera with around 40 km diameter
quite impressive…
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