See the 6 answer words debuted by Lee Higbie.
G | L | A | M | M | O | U | N | T | C | A | B | S | ||
A | U | T | O | E | R | R | O | R | A | S | A | P | ||
L | I | E | U | D | E | L | T | A | N | A | S | A | ||
A | G | A | S | S | I | S | C | A | N | I | N | |||
S | I | T | S | P | A | T | P | H | A | L | A | N | X | |
E | A | S | E | E | A | R | S | |||||||
E | T | D | T | H | X | A | R | M | C | D | S | |||
S | H | I | B | U | Y | A | S | T | E | W | A | R | T | |
P | E | A | R | L | S | H | H | L | I | M | E | Y | ||
M | P | A | A | H | O | O | A | L | P | S | ||||
L | I | E | V | C | O | L | O | R | L | E | S | T | ||
O | K | R | A | A | L | I | T | O | A | R | C | S | ||
G | A | B | I | N | D | E | E | D | Y | V | O | L | ||
I | D | A | S | I | E | R | R | A | S | A | D | O | ||
C | O | G | A | T | M | S | N | L | N | E | T |
LEE: My grandfather, Robert F. Griggs, discovered the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and was the first person to get to the site of the June 6, 1912, "Katmai eruption" (actually the eruption of Novarupta). I tried constructing a puzzle with the intent of having it ready for June 6, 2012. From that exercise, I learned much greater respect for the crossword constructors.
About a year ago, I saw one of Jeff Chen's puzzles with right-left symmetry like I had been trying to use. I sent Jeff my half-puzzle and asked if he had any interest. He said, the reason for a Katmai/Novarupta themed puzzle passed with missing its 100th anniversary, but he and I worked on this more general one.
I have made a number of trips Katmai National Monument and Park (now that it is a National Park and Preserve, not just a Monument). I also attended most of the Alaska Volcano Observatory meetings during the years I was on staff at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and took a UAF class, "The International Volcanological Field Trip," that was given in Katmai.