The northern Arizona city sits in one of the most volcanic areas in North AmericaWhen it comes to Mother Nature rearranging the furniture, give me fire every time. Hawaii? Lava. Iceland? Lava. Pompeii? Sneaky, middle-of-the-night lava.

Colliding continents are fine, but too big and too slow to appreciate, and erosion is hardly sexy.

But trudging down the gullet of an inky-black lava cave north of Flagstaff – once a pumping artery of gajillion-degree magma that would have vaporized my flesh at 20 yards – it occurred that, as amazing as this formation is, you wouldn’t have wanted to be around to see it happen.

Orange County Register