- What's going on, everybody?
I'm Mark Vins, and right now,
we are in the Snow Canyon state park in southern Utah.
Beautiful sandstone formations all around us,
but that's not what I'm here to show you today.
Today, I'm taking you on an adventure with me
in to a volcano.
Let's go.
(intense music)
(rocks crumbling)
(upbeat music)
Hot out here Cory.
Have you ever been on the inside of a volcano before?
- I have not.
- Okay, neither have I.
This is gonna be a first for The Brave crew.
The sand that's all around us right now
is how this entire valley started.
It's why the rock formations are here,
this was once called The Ancient Desert Sand Sea
but over millions of years the sand hardened into the rock
and the sandstone we see here before us with the wind
and the water shaping all the sweeping textures
that make it so iconic.
Now this volcano erupted 27,000 years ago
so we're gonna see a lot of stuff like this, basalt,
blown out of the volcano, landed miles away.
Looks like we got a little bit further to go
before we get to the lava field but man I'm excited.
This is an adventure with me for the books.
- Is that the lava tube straight ahead?
- Its gotta be, its gotta be, let's go.
Oh man this is cool.
Ho ho, that's the lava tube.
You can see it's coming up from the earth right there.
And a lava tube is pretty much a volcanoes drainage pipe.
When magma rises to the surface there's a cap
and that cap pressurizes the magma,
it spreads that magma out underneath the ground,
forming lava tubes just like this.
It is very precarious in here,
you can see that the walls are all fractured already.
This makes me a little bit nervous.
Usually when your gut gives you that feeling like,
maybe you shouldn't go too much further,
that's a good warning to heed but-
Oh my gosh thiseven goes further.
If you're brave enough I guess you could explore
through these lava tubes
but I'm not sure it's a very good idea.
I think that's enough lava tube adventuring for me today,
I'm gonna get back on the surface.
Not a cloud in site today,
it is bluebird sky which means
that the sun is gonna punish us.
Every step is well earned out here.
All right there it is, there's our path through.
This is how we're gonna get up
and over this range of sandstone.
If you guys are already we got one last heave
before we see the volcano.
We're gonna get scraped up, this stuff is sharp.
I have good news and bad news.
The good news is it's opening up a lot,
the bad news is it's getting real steep.
And this is what we call scrambling, it's not walking,
it's not rock climbing, its scrambling.
Gotta use your hands, gotta use your feet,
gotta wedge your body in between places for more support
and happens to be a lot of fun.
As tiring as it is I'm really enjoying this.
Man, I tell you what, if I was a mountain lion,
that's what I'd be calling home right there.
Don't look down now.
(heavy breathing)
There it is, this is so cool.
That's the volcano.
(guitar music)
Surrounded by white sandstone.
All right I think this is where we start making our ascent,
I can see the grade is getting pretty steep,
probably why they say this trail is
for advanced hikers only.
Now volcanoes like this one are known
as cinder cone volcanoes.
The reason they are called that is
because not only are they in the shape of a cone
but when the lava explodes it does so in very fine fragments
like this right here.
These are cinders and clinkers,
the clinkers have a funny name for a reason
and actually when they roll down hills they clink.
(rocks clinking)
That is why it's called a clinker.
Pretty cool huh?
Oh man, Cory how we doing back there?
- Oh I might need a break!
- Okay, legs are on fire.
Come a long way, look how far, down from that valley,
over that mountain and right here to where we are standing.
Certainly a full day of adventuring.
We're about to see what's waiting on the other side.
All right there is goes.
Whoa!
There it is, we made it!
That's the crater!
How cool was this Cory?
One of my favorite expeditions we've done yet.
We've taken on all of these wildlife adventures
over the years and we thought it was time to show you
what else is out there.
So many places on this planet to explore
and we're gonna take you with us every step of the way
but, Cory, if I'm not mistaken,
we have a few more steps left.
Let's go down in the crater.
Wow, not even to the bottom
and it is already an incredible view.
Very slippery, very hazardous,
definitely bring your hiking boots
if you go on one of these adventures.
Ha, just like that, yes!
I just gotta take a moment to soak this in.
Here we are, we made it to the finale of today's adventure,
inside the cinder cone of a volcano here
at Snow Canyon State Park
and now it's time to answer the burning question.
I'm sure you're all wondering.
Mark, are you and Cory in any danger standing inside
the crater of this volcano?
No we're not.
And the reason for that is because this volcano is extinct,
no longer posing a threat for an eruption.
Now that's not true with all volcanoes
so if you're gonna go on an adventure like this
somewhere else in the world, other than this park,
be sure to check out if it's an active volcano or not
and be sure to check with the park services first
because some volcanoes are very, very, very dangerous
and we'd hate for anyone at home to go on an adventure
that got themselves hurt.
But this adventure was absolutely epic,
if I don't mind saying so myself.
We made it to the center of a volcano
for the first time on Brave Wilderness
and I hope you guys enjoyed this expidition.
I'm Mark Vins, be brave,
stay wild,
we'll see you guys on the next adventure.
(wild animal sounds)