What Is A Drive-Up Volcano?

What Is A Drive-Up Volcano? was Originally Posted on July 11, 2013 by lavarock

We call one of our volcanoes here a drive-up volcano, because well, you drive up next to it. As you know, volcanoes are giant things and our particular island is composed of 5 volcanoes. In reality, we are talking about a drive-up location next to a fire pit of molten rock.

Decades ago they built a parking lot and buses and cars would park and you could walk to a crater where there *used* to be bubbling lava. In fact, mark Twain wrote about the same pit.

It was like gazing at the sun at noon-day, except that the glare was not quite so white. At unequal distances all around the shores of the lake were nearly white-hot chimneys or hollow drums of lava, four or five feet high, and up through them were bursting gorgeous sprays of lava-gouts and gem spangles, some white, some red and some golden–a ceaseless bombardment, and one that fascinated the eye with its unapproachable splendor. The mere distant jets, sparkling up through an intervening gossamer veil of vapor, seemed miles away; and the further the curving ranks of fiery fountains receded, the more fairy-like and beautiful they appeared.

While not quite as spectacular as it was in 1866, you can still park next to the crater, walk about a minute and stand at an overlook and look down into a hole 200 feet away.

In the above photo, the rectangles at the bottom are the parking area. The crater is about 3,000 feet across at its widest part.

So if you have ever wondered how close you can walk to an active volcano?, the correct answer is about 200 feet (as the wind blows)