A Birthday Wish to Revisit a Short Walk . . .

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One of our tadpoles turned 13 this past weekend, and while thinking of wishes to make before blowing out her 13 candles, the 13 candles on a chocolate rasberry pie prepared with love by a certain Grenouille, she specifically asked me to put together a post about the hike we took to reach the top of the volcano on Réunion Island back in February. As one cannot refuse such requests, here first is the pie in question, followed by a short report on the climb up a volcano. I'm expecting National Geographic or Geo Magazine to contact me any day now. (that's a joke)
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If one wishes to visit le Piton de la Fournaise (Furnace Peak) and actually see any of it, one is advised to rise very early so as to reach the summit by mid-morning at the latest, as later in the day the heights of the volcano are nearly always covered in clouds. We therefore set the alarms for 04:00, dressed and breakfasted quickly, and then drove in the dark up the winding access road to the jumping off point. We got there right at dawn, in the rain, and were afraid the hike would have to scratched due to the fog and clouds obscuring all. But just after sunrise a clearing in the clouds opened up, though the peak was still hidden, which gave us enough hope to set out on the five to six hour hike . . .
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From an overlook point at the top of the rim of the vast caldera surrounding the active peak, we could see a small group of people who had set out before us, and were already starting to cross the plain toward the mountain. You can just make them out at the upper right. The crater in the foreground is a relatively small vent which was active back in the 1700's.
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This gives you a little better idea of the climb down the outer caldera rim to reach the plain which must be crossed before getting to the volcano itself. This was easy going down early in the morning, but it was coming back up this steep stretch at the end of the round trip hike that was a _______ ! (fill in your own expletive!)

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The fog and clouds kept descending, causing serious doubts as to whether we should continue. The guidebooks are full of warnings about not getting lost in the clouds on the expanse of plains around the peak, which go on for miles and miles, and which are extremely rugged and unforgiving terrain.

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In brief clearings the heights of our destination could just be glimpsed. To help prevent people from getting lost out there in the lava desert, a series of white spots have been painted on the ground. One should not stray away from them.
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The Piton de la Fournaise has erupted frequently over the past 150 years, producing humongous quantities of basaltic lava flows. The solidified molten rock is beautiful to look at, but makes for treacherous, exhausting walking, as there are almost no flat surfaces.
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A few sparse grasses grow in the wastelands . . .

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And a few small shrubs which somehow managed to seed themselves in this inhospitable place.
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Hard to imagine rock like this heated hot enough to flow like mud . . .
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There are some options for destinations up there, some side trips to take if one is feeling energetic and has the time . . .

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But we were headed for the main summit, the Dolomieu Crater. In the background here is the caldera rim, known as the Pas de Bellecombe.
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A lava flow that ran to the north side of the island, running off into the distance here under the low flying cloud cover.
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One better understands what "scorched earth" means after visiting such places.

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Not all is black though, volcanic rock comes in a multitude of colors.

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Now well up on the flanks of the peak, my three travelling companions took a break to put on sunscreen, a must at 2600 meters high, or over 8600 feet.
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When one at last reaches the summit on the rim around the active crater, there are signs like this advising one to avoid falling into that vast entrance to hell.

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This is the main crater, roughly circlular, which drops back down about 900 feet from the edges around it. And which is still steaming heavily from the last eruption which took place for ten days from 2 to 12 January, 2010. There is quite a bit more information about the volcano on this site in French, Fournaise.info . . .

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The bottom of the interior of the crater . . . quietly smoking, and waiting for the next eruption. The last major eruption in 2007 saw lava flowing down into the ocean, and created new territory on the island which got bigger in surface by quite a few acres.
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After the arduous hike back down the slopes, across the plain, up the outer rim, and back to the car, this is the view down the access road which we couldn't see when we drove up early that morning in the rain and fog. . . showers and dinner rarely felt so good afterwards . . .
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