I am in Russia's Kuril Volcanic Arc on Paramushir Island atop the recently active Chikurachki stratovolcano.  It, along with the Tatarinov group of six volcanic centers to its south and the Lomonosov group of cinder cones, make up the north-south trending Chikurachki complex of volcanoes. Chikurachki is the highest volcano on Paramushir island and also bears the rare distinction of having produced basaltic Plinian eruptions during the Holocene. Oxidized basaltic-to-andesitic scoria, especially on the eastern slopes of the volcano, give it that red colour. Chikurachki last erupted in 2023 and has experienced 28 confirmed Holocene eruptions.

The flight path begins 18 km south of the most recently active cone just east of the Karpinsky Group of volcanic centers.  You wind your way north across the Lomonosov Group of pyroclastic cones belonging to Chikurachki.  As you crest the highest summit of that group you get a good overview of the northern end of Paramushir Island, including Vernadskii Ridge and, further north, the recently eruptive Ebeko. Swooping back down and turning left, you begin climbing the more eroded Tatarinov stratovolcano. Passing in a westward direction across its summit, you get a brief look at nearby Fuss Peak as well as Krasheninnikov Bay to its right. You then turn right and head toward the northeast, where you finally reach the reddish slopes of the Chikurachki stratovolcano at the northern end of the elongated complex of volcanoes. As you crest the summit, you will see the white slopes of Alaid across the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. You fly down, circling left and swooping up again for a second pass of Chikurachki, which gets you a second look at Fuss Peak before you resume your northeastward course toward the end of this flight path.

This may be the last season of these challenges, as I am running out of Google Earth volcanoes with suitable 3D meshes and image overlays for making good quality fly-overs.  HOWEVER I am strongly considering going back to my archived Challenges and giving some of the best ones a "glow-up", redoing them in higher resolution with better editing and including descriptions of the flight paths as well as information about the volcanoes. If/when I finalize how I will be rolling that out, I'd love to hear from you all about which volcanoes I should start with. Also let me just thank you all one more time for your viewership and for keeping me motivated. It's been a fun almost-five-years and I hope to keep this thing going, even if we have to set a slightly different course.