The Valley of 10000 Smokes

Mom and I visited the Valley of 10000 Smokes in Katmai National Park toward the end of our Alaska trip. The Valley was a truly eerie place. In the midst of Alaska's lush wilderness is this barren, dusty scar on the land.

The Valley was created by a huge fall of volcanic ash back in 1912. The ash and debris came from the explosion of a nearby mountain, and it covered everything in its path, including lakes and rivers. This water evaporated under the great heat and pressure imposed by the ash and turned to steam. The steam eventually worked its way to the surface and exited through thousands of small steam vents, causing early explorers of the aftermath to call it the Valley of 10000 Smokes.

The Valley has finished its smoking days, but it remains an awesome sight. The vegetation is starting to grow back, beginning with scrub Willow trees, lichens (pronounced like-ens), and mosses. The rivers originally covered cretated now paths on top of the ash, and in the last 85 years, they have carved the awesome canyons you see here.

The day we visited, the wind was blowing probably around 30-40 mph in the Valley, and the dust in the air stung fiercely and worked itself into every crevice it could find. It also created the strange appearance of the air that you see here. If ever you have the opportunity to visit Alaska, i would highly recommend taking in the Valley of the 10000 Smokes in Katmai National Park. To see it, one stays at Brooks Lodge, where the bears are plentiful and the fishing great. A float plane in and out of the lodge (the _only_ transportation) rounds out the experience.