Kurils/Kunashir: Fumarole Fields on Mendeleev Volcano
The second of the four volcanoes on Kunashir is a bigger Mendeleev Volcano with double nested calderas. While the last eruption was about 120 years ago, it boasts four large fumarole solfatara fields where sulphuric smoke erupts from the ground and hot springs and streams erupt everywhere. After a 3-hour insanity of a hike through Kuril bamboo, you arrive at the volcano slope gloriously smoking with several large yellow fumaroles. As usual, you can approach rather close, right to the edge of the yellow crystals where the ground is hot and the air is unbreathable. You can also sit in downstream in the hot springs although the acidic waters and quite stingy. It’s all lunar-like panorama and you are one of the few tourists who ever come here.
