We are at one of the summits and it is all hiking from here on out.

 It was interesting to see so many trees carried on top of the lava, which was cooled somewhat but not burned.

 The group to the right are a group of ladies from England, they were much faster than we were and had been hiking much longer. The real shocker was they were 70 + they all could have been "Miss Marples"

 Carl was thrilled with the cloud formations that came up from the sea but were stopped by Etna. So they just spun around the same area and multiplied. No rain through.

 These are button holes , or vents from the volcano / cracks up to the surface. There 10 or 12 ?

 Picking Violets?? up 7 to 8 thousand feet above sea level.

 That smooth black stone is from the volcano BUT it is 2 to 3 times the weight of the other lava.

 Made it to the top of this crater and it is cold with strong winds.

 It is huge!

 We got pretty excited to see color in the stream while we were on top. Our guide told all the terms but I didn't take notes. It was awesome. Along the sides of some the formations we could feel heat! That was really surprising, from where we were at, we were still miles away from the top.

 No guessing where the lava flowed, here come more sea clouds.

We are headed back.