On September 19, 2021, after weeks of seismic activity, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma erupted, with lava flows destroying over 3,000 properties, including homes, churches, and banana plantations. The eruption lasted 3 months and was declared over on Christmas Day, 2021. This event significantly impacted the island's landscape, infrastructure, and population. We have an opportunity to hike on the ash and lava flows to an overlook of the volcanic crater, with views that showcase the lava flows that transformed the landscape and towns of the island.
We start at the top of the hills, above the volcano and descend over layers of ash. Entry is by guided tour only and our small group starts down the trail in the fog and passing rain showers.
Soon we leave the forest with its floor of ash and trees that survived the eruption (and grew new limbs) and start across the fields of ash toward the crater.
We reach a viewpoint close to and overlooking the crater, which still has steam rising from vents in the rocks.
After reaching the bottom and the road, we stop in at the Caldera de Taburiente Visitor Center to view detailed topological models of the island's geological evolution.
Other exhibits in the center highlight the volcanic formation of all the Canary Islands. Each of the islands emerged between 20 million years ago and 1 million years ago and volcanic activity has continued since then, with the last eruption (on which we just walked) four years ago.
This hike has been cold, wet, black-ash sandy (in our shoes), and a lot of fun! We'll get to contrast this with a later hike on Lanzarote over the lava from a volcano that erupted in the mid-1700s and early-1800s.
