Doug versus the volcano

The title of my post today hearkens back to a Tom Hanks movie, Joe Versus the Volcano, that Jeanne, Allie and I watched many years ago. Although I do intend to pit myself against this volcano and climb to its heights, fortunately, I do not believe myself to be dying, nor do I intend to throw myself over its rim and into its depths in order to appease the gods of the mountain, something that Joe mistakenly thought at one time was a good idea.  And let me reassure those of you who may now be concerned about Joe's wellbeing. I don't of course want to give the ending away, but be assured that it was a happy one for all concerned. Well, for Joe at least. 

Volcanic cones dot our area. I can't imagine what this land that became Auckland must have looked like when they were all active. What a hellish place it must have been. Here is a link to a map showing the sites.

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/655-auckland-s-volcanoes

The cone I've chosen to climb today is Mt. St. John, which happens to be one of the smaller ones. I think you'll enjoy seeing the top and the surrounding city. Let's go up...

 This path turned out to be about 100 yards long and gets much steeper after you make that little corner to the right up there. 

 Here I am on top and am looking into the crater.

 There is a path than circles the rim.

 This is a shot of the far side of the crater

 These depressions must have been additional lava channels. There is another one over at the outside edge of the cone to my right. 

 My next Doug vs. the volcano will take place there, on Mt. Hobson. That's about one half mile away. 

That cone is One-Tree Hill, although since it's one tree was cut down as an act of protest some time ago, I now call it None-Tree Hill. 

I zoomed in on it for this picture. It's actually at least twice or three times as far away as Mt. Hobson is. 

This video begins and ends looking toward a fog-shrouded peak which I'm quite sure is Mt. Eden. That makes four cones that you've seen today. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCyAbrFA1AE&feature=youtu.be

 I'm heading back down. There were 64 steps down to the top of the path.

The edges of cliffs are great places to study tree roots. I feel as though I have X-Ray vision and the soil is transparent to me.    -djf