Where: Iceland’s volcanic highlands
When: July 2006
What: In my August 2006 American Adventurer column about this trip, I likened the Icelandic interior to Tolkien’s Middle-earth: “With its obsidian lava fields and steaming hot springs, its moss-covered foothills and treeless valleys, Iceland is Mordor one minute and the Shire the next.”
To me, nothing captures that essence better than this photo. I love the way this shot captures the wild and wide-open essence of the highlands: the snow-capped peaks, the spidering streams, the mossy greens and reds and browns of a land virtually untouched by human hands. It’s hard to imagine anywhere more epic.
The backcountry is dominated by Mount Hekla, a volcano that was once thought to be the literal mouth of Hell. A thousand years ago, Iceland’s Viking settlers sent criminals to this same inhospitable interior, where they were forced to survive for 20 years before earning a pardon. Most never made it. Penny and I lasted a week, but we needed the help of a guide from the Fjallabak Trekking Company to do it.
