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The World’s Most Accessible Volcano

Want to see an active volcano? Here is how you can.

Grant Piper
5 min readOct 28, 2023
Mount Yasur (Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0)

Would you hike an active volcano if given the opportunity? Many people would jump at the chance to see lava in person, to feel the rumble of the Earth’s deepest depths, and to see the steam and smoke of an active summit. Despite the interest, there are two massive barriers to experiencing active volcanoes. First, many volcanoes are only active for short bursts, and eruptions are unpredictable. There is no guarantee that when you show up at a volcano, it will be doing anything interesting. The other problem is the potential danger. Some volcanoes are highly dangerous, and eruptions are explosive and deadly. This causes many active volcanoes to be closed off during eruptions, which bars the public from getting too close.

Between these two issues, very few people will be able to witness an eruption or hike an active volcano safely. But that is why Mount Yasur has been named the world’s most accessible volcano by experts and laymen alike.

Standing just under 1,200 feet tall, Mount Yasur can be easily summited. (For comparison, Mauna Loa in Hawai’i is over 13,000 feet tall.) It is constantly erupting, it is predictable, relatively safe, and contains a lava lake and a wide caldera. That means that nearly anyone who wants to hike an active volcano or…

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Grant Piper
Grant Piper

Written by Grant Piper

Professional writer. Amateur historian. Husband, father, Christian.

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