Cinder cones form when gas-rich volcanic froth erupts high in the air and then piles into a mound. This one, called Inferno Cone, does not have an apparent crater or vent. The cinders on its top were blown by the wind – and possibly squirted in this direction – from a vent or vents far below.
See the hikers on the trail to the top in the image above?
I don’t know why some of the images of this series turned out with such dark blue sky. It may be because of the dark color of the ground and way that my camera’s processor interpreted the image. I think the above images may also have been a bit underexposed.
From the parking lot for the trail, we could see a group of people already quite a ways up – nearing the top.
The same group of people appear in this photo, also taken from the parking lot:
Don’t see them?
Here’s a close-up cropped from the above image—————————->
We’ve probably been to the top of this cinder cone at least 4 or 5 times over the years. It is close to the beginning of the park and, by the time that you’re done with it, you might be too pooped for any of the longer walks.
There’s a couple more I’d like to do, but that’ll have to wait until another trip.
Views from the top:
![image_thumb[1]](http://exit78.com/wp-content/uploads//2010/09/image_thumb1_thumb.png "image_thumb[1]")
Craters of the Moon to be continued…
Craters of the Moon National Monument, July 24, 2010
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Ackk… why is there no hi-res images? I’d really love to see “view from the top” fullscreen.
I’ve modified the bottom two images to link to images that are 1024 pixels wide. So far as why I don’t normally have higher resolution images, it’s a personal preference not to put my higher resolution images out there for general access, a decision that I’ve made relatively recently.
Thanks! These are awesome shots!
Well, personally, I have all of my images (http://www.flickr.com/photos/slava_v/) released as Creative Commons By license (which even allows commercial usage). My train of thought was that – photography isn’t something that I make money with, so why waste time trying to protect those from copying? I say – let the people copy and share the beauty – that doesn’t hurt me in any way and actually feels good to know that more people could enjoy my pics, even if it wouldn’t be on my own page and even if they’re doing it for money.
What was even more compelling reason for me was the fact that I’ve seen a lot of super-skilled photographers, who have released all of their absolutely stunning shots as CC-BY (for comm. usage too!), so it felt kind of stupid to try to hog pics that were worse than theirs 🙂
Well, that’s my opinion. Still, thanks for the beautiful shots, really enjoyed them.
Thanks!
I’m very much aware of the creative commons concept. I choose to not implement it at this time. Perhaps someday — perhaps not. Who knows?
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.