JULY 2023 · ADVENTURE

River crossings - Iceland Highlands trek, day ten

Icelandic Highlands

The final day began with the canyons. Narrow, steep-walled, the moss thick on the canyon sides — a different texture from anything in the nine days before, green and dense where the volcanic rock had been covered completely. The glacial river running through the base of the canyon was clear and cold. The crossings were ford crossings: boots off, trousers up, the water finding your skin before you were ready.

Steep moss-covered canyon walls frame a flowing glacier river — The final day's opening — canyon and cold water

— The canyons

A POV shot from a weathered wooden bridge, looking down at dark water between planks. A rarity on this route. Most of the crossings had no bridge.

After the canyons, the river braided out across a wider tundra valley. An overhead view of it: the river meandering through reddish-brown moss, the channels splitting and rejoining, the mountains at distance. The tundra here was soft underfoot in a way the highland plateau had not been.

After nine days of rock and black plateau and geothermal mineral color, the small-leafed birch registered as something significant.
Icelandic Highlands — July 2023

POV of feet on weathered wooden bridge over dark water — One of the few bridges on the route

— Tundra and open ground

Then the dwarf birch. Sparse at first, appearing at the edges of the path on the lower moorland. After nine days of rock and black plateau and geothermal mineral color, the small-leafed birch registered as something significant. The first green that wasn't moss or geothermal chemistry. The first thing that read as woodland, however minimal.

Braided river winds through tundra valley with distant mountains — The river opening into tundra

Overhead perspective of river meandering through reddish-brown moss — Channels splitting and rejoining

— Dwarf birch

A stuffed bear was sitting on someone's blue-green sleeping bag with a yellow jacket beside it, inside the last hut before Þórsmörk. Placed there by someone in the group, photographed because it was there. A small animal at the end of a long route.

Dirt path curves through sparse birch woodland toward distant river — First real woodland in ten days

— Toward Þórsmörk

The dirt path curves through sparse birch toward the distant river that marks the approach to Þórsmörk. A small shelter beside a stream with snowy peaks behind it, dwarf willow on the slope. The last frame from the ten days.