JULY 2023 · ADVENTURE
Landmannalaugar - Iceland Highlands trek, day one
Landmannalaugar, Southern Highlands
The bus from Reykjavík deposits you in the middle of it. No build-up. The rhyolite mountains are immediately present — striped ochre and brown and cream, the strata running diagonally across the faces, the colors too saturated to read as rock at first. Landmannalaugar is where the trek begins and also a destination in its own right; on day one the task is to leave it.
The group assembled in bright gear — reds and blues and yellows against the grey scree — and started up. The ridge above camp gives the first full view: a geothermal valley with a river threading through it, white steam rising from vents on the valley floor, the mountain faces in every direction showing a different arrangement of the same minerals. High altitude view, looking down at the trekkers and the stream and the steam together in one frame.
Landmannalaugar is where the trek begins and also a destination in its own right; on day one the task is to leave it.
Landmannalaugar — July 2023
The rhyolite close up: yellow sulfur deposits in the rock, green algae finding a foothold in the cracks, the surface pitted and layered and nothing like what you expected granite or limestone to look like. The color is in the mineral composition. Iron, sulfur, silica, each present in different concentrations, each reading as a different hue.
By afternoon the group was crossing a gray valley on the less-trodden route, the colored mountains visible ahead, the lava field behind. A canyon with striped walls, a geothermal river in the base of it. The view south from the high pass: black lava, green valley, snow-capped peaks at distance, the visual logic of the highland laid out.
Nine days remaining. The mountain faces didn't look the same twice.
Trekkers in colorful jackets on gray scree slope above rhyolite mountains
Group hiking single-file along steep green mountain ridge under cloudy sky
Trekkers crossing barren gray valley with vivid rhyolite mountains beyond
Vehicle interior with steering wheel overlooking geothermal valley and mountains
Dramatic aerial view of rhyolite layered mountains with snow and mineral deposits
Trekkers standing at base of colorful striped rhyolite mountains, group photo
Vast lava field with moss and colorful mountains under white cloudy sky
Multicolored mountain slopes with green river valley running through desert basin
High altitude view of geothermal valley with white steam, flowing river, trekkers
Layered mountain landscape with striped rhyolite formations and flowing river
High mountain pass with distant peaks, black lava, and green geothermal vegetation
Mountain valley landscape showing layered rhyolite formations and geothermal features
Epic mountain vista with layered rhyolite slopes and distant green geothermal basin
Rhyolite canyon with layered colorful striped mountains and flowing geothermal river
Close-up of rhyolite mountain showing bright yellow sulfur deposits and mineral veins
Group trekking on gravel ridge with vibrant striped mountains and green valley below
Multiple hikers on gray scree slope crossing Landmannalaugar highlands
Detailed rhyolite mountain face showing yellow mineral deposits and green algae
Intimate landscape of rhyolite formations with yellow sulfur and green moss deposits