Option 1: Tell us about one of your proudest achievements and why it is important to you. Looking up at the sky I knew I would never be able to make it back down. Accomplishing this feat had been the hardest challenge. My backpack's strings dug into my shoulders and burned my skin with every proceeding step. The two water bottles that once seemed to be light now seemed to be boulders. In front of me was the steep narrow road to the crater. My legs were starting to collapse after going through trials of climbing steep hills, and our seventh hour on this volcano had still not brought us to the top. The guide told us that this volcano, Concepcion, was still active which even brought more fear. My palms were bruised with stains of crusted mud as the …show more content…
sweat that fell from my head burned my eyes and blurred my vision. Looking at my body, all I saw was blood from the cuts on my legs and the mud that resulted from the previous falls.
At this point, I was determined to go back down, this had been the worst moment in my life. Somehow, all my friends had persuaded me to pursue and continued to go ahead of me. Once I had finally reached the top, the crater ,which I had thought to be beautiful, struck to be inundated land with tall grass. Disappointed and finding no point of this trip, I headed back down. The steep hills before me caused me to fall numerous times, and eventually a trip on a rock caused me to twist my ankle. I was in excruciating pain and was desperate to go home. However, home was far away. The volcano was on an island, and this island's only means of transportation was by boat. Steadily coming down the steep volcano, darkness started to come upon me. Looking in front of me, there were still two more hours to go. The only accompany I had were the sounds of insects, birds and my friends and guide that were barely able to be seen. Darkness filled my eyes with tears desperate for home. Finally reaching the base camp, I collapsed. My shoes were ready to be thrown into the garbage. Filled with mud and rips, it was impossible to wear again. Finally
before sleeping, I pondered over the long, tiresome, exasperating journey that I had accomplished. Despite my backache, burns, cuts, and twisted ankle, I was given a opportunity to accomplish a feat I would've never chosen to do it on my own. Pondering on this subject and looking up at the clear stars that shun brightly above me, I was happy that this feat had taught me to persevere. It had given me more time to face struggles on my own. Being far away from home, far from distractions, it gave me time to appreciate the things around me that I don't come to face often. It taught me to live life to the best of my capability preparing me for future struggles brought forth. I was ready to take hold of more opportunities with an open mind, and was ready to freely begin living a life more appreciative of challenges and hardships.
I like the way the author shows the general population’s reaction to the volcano’s eruption. Many are scared and do not know what to do,
“I shall never forget the awful climb on hands and feet out of that hole that was about five feet deep with greasy clay and blood (although I did not know then that it was blood).
We hit a down hill point so we grabbed drift wood. It would save man power and be faster to sled down. The rest helped Landon out the most because he was the smallest so he didn 't have energy left to use. But this refreshed him so we could keep going. Time was not on are side. The only thing keeping us alive was the fact that if we got out we would be the first ones ever to make it out not dead. It was about the hottest point in the day now and we had to find shade or we would get to dehydrated and die. We drank all the water we had just to fine out that we had a under ground stream below
Most people experience dramatic events that demonstrate to them just how fragile life is. Whether these events are acts of gruesome violence, or deaths of a loved ones, the frailty of life is evident. However, for me, this was a different story. As a southern white-boy, my realization came in the most unexpected of places – the Hawaiian Islands. When I learned of a snorkeling trip mid-vacation, I was overcome with anticipation and couldn’t wait to embark on my “Pacific Pilgrimage.” This vacation would prove to be a dramatic turning point in my life.
Myths and legends are everywhere. There are legends of people from long ago, myths of ancient Greeks. There are myths and legends of almost everything, including volcanoes. Myths of their creation, of why they erupt. Myths and legends of various gods controlling their own volcanoes. There is a story for almost every volcano. The amount of legends and myths concerning volcanoes is quite extensive, ranging from Hephaestus to Vulcan and everything in between. It's very interesting to know what people thought of volcanoes when the myths were made; myths about volcano are as captivating as other myths. Take Pele, one of the gods associated to volcanoes I'll be talking about, for example.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is about 30 miles southwest of Hilo. It is on the big island of Hawaii. This park is the home of Kilauea Volcano. Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth.
A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. In another definition it is a mountain
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
The Mauna Loa volcano is located in Hawaii and means "Long Mountain" in Hawaiian. It is a giant, basaltic shield volcano. It is one of the largest volcanoes and mountains in the world and has been called the "monarch of mountains". It has an estimated volume of 9,600 cubic miles and takes up half the land of Hawaii. It extends about 120 km starting from the southern tip of the island to the northern region. It is 97 km (60 miles) long, 48 km (30 miles) wide, and is 8,742 km (28,680 miles) high from the base on the sea floor to the top. The slopes are steeper than 12 degrees and about 4 degrees at the top of the volcano. Mauna Loa formed about half a million years ago and in the middle stages of forming into a shield volcano where lava flows to form a sloped and broad flat domed volcanic cone. Along with Mauna Kea, the Mauna Loa volcano is responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian Islands. Mauna Loa has erupted thirty-three times since 1843 and is known as one of the most active volcanoes in the world today. The last eruption was 1984 and lava flowed within 4 miles of the city of Hilo. This shows that it is dangerous to live anywhere near Mauna Loa and that it poses as a threat to anyone living near it because it has a very high possibility of erupting within a very short span of time. Below is a picture of Mauna Loa taken from a bird's eye view.
...light arose, my eyes began to squint shut trying to block the sunlight drifting in. I failed and immediately woke up opening my red watery burning eyes. David ran through the rough edged sedimentary grey rocks and through the bright green leaves of the trees with an idea. “To get rescued we should make a large SOS sign with rocks so that the planes flying from above can see it” he said. I thought the idea was incredible, so we all came together placing rock after rock deeply in the wet sparkly sludge like sand. After a long hardworking 12 hours we were finally finished. As we waited anxiously day after day for rescue we finally received it. Fifteen days later a enormous smooth plane landed on the island. As the plane slowly lifted off the almond colored ground making a turbo noise, I felt that we all learned in any situation that we need to stick together to survive.
Volcanoes can be one of the most destructive forces on Earth. It is estimated that some
I have not had a single accomplishment that is worth writing about but I feel that my college completion will be one accomplishment that I will be most proud. I feel that I am taking one step forward in life that will make me become a more successful person.
Just a valley of nothingness for miles. What was I to do with people I wasn’t even friends with for four days? The mere thought of it consumed me. Then I hear the scoutmaster shout, “Okay boys! We’re going to kick things off with a bang. Your first activity for today will be to locate your camping gear!” Immediately I thought to myself, “what? Are you kidding me?” The day shifted from bad to worse, and I didn’t think it was going to stop there. So here I was with my troop, maps in hand, the mixture of fear and anxiety overwhelming us. We contemplated our game plan for a while. Another scout, who would later become my best friend, broke the silence. “Well, better get going before it gets dark. Don’t want to be sleeping out in the open.” Reluctantly, the rest of us got up and followed.
Arriving in Lima, we were greeted by swarms of taxi drivers asking if we needed rides; “No Gracias, Señor,” was a phrase that became my go-to response. I laid eyes on my cousin and uncle, and instantly let out a sigh of relief, but was met with a punch in the face of the suffocating humidity of Lima. It was close to two in the morning, and in a short thirty hours, I would be on a plane ride going to Cusco. When we were on our way to my grandma’s house, where we would be spending the night, but cousin carefully approached the subject of Machu Picchu. He told my mom and I that the rain was heavy over there, and they may have to close the park for the week due to potential floods. My heart stopped and I was about to break down. My mom instantly saw the look on my face and said, “Don’t worry, I have a feeling the rain will slow
Despite being in a dangerous location, the slopes of volcanoes can be attractive to people setting up homes due to the rich, fertile soil