Home » 2017 Blog post » Hiking Mount Etna
Hiking Mount Etna
Posted by Alexander Geyelin on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.
This past Sunday, we left Cefalu at around 7:30am to start driving east toward Mount Etna. The drive was about three hours, and we split it up by stopping at the most hectic and chaotic gas station I’ve ever seen. After we navigated the massive mob of people trying to buy some of the typical street foods we’ve been seeing everywhere, we continued toward Etna. Etna is Europe’s tallest active volcano, and Italy’s highest point south of the Alps.
The first major shock when we got there was the temperature – Jessica warned us that it would be cold, but we still didn’t quite expect the sub-40 degree temperatures or the hail. We’ve been getting used to 75 and sunny around Cefalu, so it was definitely startling to see such major differences in weather, considering it’s on the same island and only about 100 miles away.
We got off the bus at Etna and started to walk up. It was very different from any mountain any of us had hiked up before, as there was no dirt on the ground and hardly any plants or trees; instead, there was this black sandy material from the lava covering the ground. The hail and rain subsided for a bit as we were about halfway up, but quickly returned. As we neared the top, we started experiencing some of the strongest winds any of us had ever seen. Hats were being blown off, and everyone had to actively work to not be pushed over by the wind. It was a crazy scene at the top, and one of the more fun trips we’ve taken since we got here.
The biggest thing I took away from Etna was a greater appreciation for the diversity of terrain and geography of this island. As our tour guide Vittoria said, there are not many places in the world where a massive active volcano is pushed up right against the sea. As we’ve gone on more site visits and seen more of Sicily’s various regions, it has been cool to see the incredible, very wide-ranging physical features of the island.
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