Katmai National Park - on the Alaskan peninsula across the Straits from Kodiak Island -- is the site of my big grizzly adventure: Awed by the Claws!
But Katmai National Park is also home to a giant barren crater, and you can daytrip there from Brooks Falls Camp, and experience this wrath of nature for yourself.
In June of 1912, the volcano Novarupta exploded. It had threatened with serious earthquakes for more than a week, but when it finally erupted, the results were mind-boggling:
It was 10x more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens.
Nearby Kodiak town was buried in 700' of ash!
Skies as far away as Chicago were blackened for days, and they say that the acid rain caused clothes, drying on the line in Vancouver, to disintegrate.
In fact, they call this explosion at today's Katmai National Park the 20th century's most dramatic volcanic event, affecting the majority of the Western Hemisphere!
ONLY ONE ERUPTION IN HISTORIC TIMES DISPLACED AS MUCH ASH, and that was Greece's Santorini, in 1500BC.
It broke thousands of small holes and cracks in the riverbed of the Ukak River and across the valley of Katmai National Park, so that National Geographic explorer Robert Griggs marveled, 4 years later,
"the valley's landscape is riddled with steam vents. It's a valley of ten thousand smokes!"
In 2005, it no longer smoked, but the bizarreness of the landscape still beckoned us.
From our home base in Katmai National Park' Brooks Camp, we van-tripped ($90pp) , for about an hour, to Overlook Cabin. There was a small snackbar, and a huge back deck, perched at the brink of the destruction.
We sat awestruck, considering what sort of power of nature could turn this evergreen-laden loamy forest of Katmai Park, into the arid, monochromatic wasteland before us. It sprawled for as far as the eye could see!
After lunch, we hiked down into the moonscape. Baseball sized rocks were weightless in our hands -- pumice, of course!
I remember the air feeling cool, but the sun still threatened to blister our cheeks with its fierce overhead blaze as well as reflection off the endless sand dunes.
At points, the sand had piled up in spires (see left). Now, over 100 years later, small scrub is starting to entrench along the crater's edge and creekbank, but overall, the scene is blurry with blowing sand. Blinding with sun glare. And silent.
Unless you're a geology buff, you won't travel to Alaska just for this. But if you're in Katmai National Park -- of even on Kodiak Island -- this is a very worthwhile detour!
It was 10x more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens.
Nearby Kodiak town was buried in 700' of ash!
Skies as far away as Chicago were blackened for days, and they say that the acid rain caused clothes, drying on the line in Vancouver, to disintegrate.
In fact, they call this explosion at today's Katmai National Park the 20th century's most dramatic volcanic event, affecting the majority of the Western Hemisphere!
ONLY ONE ERUPTION IN HISTORIC TIMES DISPLACED AS MUCH ASH, and that was Greece's Santorini, in 1500BC.
It broke thousands of small holes and cracks in the riverbed of the Ukak River and across the valley of Katmai National Park, so that National Geographic explorer Robert Griggs marveled, 4 years later,
"the valley's landscape is riddled with steam vents. It's a valley of ten thousand smokes!"
In 2005, it no longer smoked, but the bizarreness of the landscape still beckoned us.From our home base in Katmai National Park' Brooks Camp, we van-tripped ($90pp) , for about an hour, to Overlook Cabin. There was a small snackbar, and a huge back deck, perched at the brink of the destruction. We sat awestruck, considering what sort of power of nature could turn this evergreen-laden loamy forest of Katmai Park, into the arid, monochromatic wasteland before us. It sprawled for as far as the eye could see!
After lunch, we hiked down into the moonscape. Baseball sized rocks were weightless in our hands -- pumice, of course!
I remember the air feeling cool, but the sun still threatened to blister our cheeks with its fierce overhead blaze as well as reflection off the endless sand dunes.
At points, the sand had piled up in spires (see left). Now, over 100 years later, small scrub is starting to entrench along the crater's edge and creekbank, but overall, the scene is blurry with blowing sand. Blinding with sun glare. And silent.
Unless you're a geology buff, you won't travel to Alaska just for this. But if you're in Katmai National Park -- of even on Kodiak Island -- this is a very worthwhile detour!
Want more info? Check out my YouTube: Alaska, Like you've never Imagined!
Need a little help with YOUR Alaskan adventure to Katmai National Park?
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