Arenal Volcano Rising Above a Lava Rock Path

Arenal Volcano reaches 1,657 meters above the lowlands of Alajuela Province near La Fortuna, its conical shape long cited as one of the most symmetrical stratovolcano profiles in the Americas. The volcano had been dormant for centuries before an eruption on July 29, 1968, destroyed the villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo; it then remained active, with lava flows and rock ejections continuing until 2010. Arenal Volcano National Park, established in 1991, protects roughly 12,000 acres of rainforest and hardened lava fields at the mountain's base. Costa Rica's Volcanological and Seismological Observatory continues to monitor the peak, which last erupted more than a decade ago.

Taken February 2019