Moonsoon at SP Crater
While on the teacher workshop field trip in northern Arizona, one of our stops was a cindercone volcano called SP Crater. When we arrived at the cone, the sky was blue with a few puffy clouds. We spent less than an hour climbing around collecting cinders and lava bombs before gathering at the bottom to discuss what we had found.
About that time, the sky started looking like the second panorama and giant cracks of thunder were booming, so we decided it was time to go. I took the nine photos in the second panorama and hopped in the minivan, and as soon as we started driving down the dirt road towards the main road, the sky opened up. It was pouring rain blowing in sideways and hailing, and we were driving in minivans (no four-wheel drive…) on a road that quickly turned to mud. I rolled down the window every so often so I could get pictures (and video!) but could only leave it down for a few seconds before I (and my camera) were soaked; those are the middle two photos. It’s not a geology field trip without some sort of adventure! The last few photos are the view of the storm after we had gotten back onto the main road. We got out just in time!
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