Just Stand Up

Descend into the crater of Yocul of Sneffels, which the shade of Scartaris caresses, before the kalends of July, audacious traveler, and you will reach the center of the Earth. I did it.

-Jules Verne
Journey to the Center of the Earth

It’s quite possible that if you’re from Iceland, you’ve never stood in a forest. The country is just that barren.

The last ice age wiped out all of the trees (except a type of miniature birch). As the old joke goes, when you’re lost in an Icelandic forest, just stand up.

But what the country lacks in arboreal coverage, it makes up with extremes: razor sharp rocks interspersed with moss as deep as a pillow. Stand almost anywhere and you’ll see at least three volcanoes.  Fosses  (waterfall in Icelandic) spring out from bare hillsides.

Iceland Sea Arch

With that in mind, imagine the Snaefellsnes peninsula (we pronounced it Snuffaluffagus) where a day’s loop drive surveys miles of lava fields (home to countless Elves, no doubt), sea arches, tinted autumn groundcover, and the mythic caldera that inspired Jules Vern’s travels to the middle of the planet.

But among the harsh terrain, you will also discover temporary moments of ecstasy, like the brimming fish soup at the end of a hike that was loaded with more fish than soup, or the family of wooly sheep huddled together for warmth in a collapsed lava tube.

End the day with Amanda and her mom buying enough Icelandic Lopi wool to clothe a small village.  And a surprise sighting of the Northern Lights adds up to be a pretty good day.  Even if there aren’t any trees to speak of.

More Iceland Photos

 

Iceland Hillside

 

9 thoughts on “Just Stand Up

  1. I am sitting on 520 while reading your blog contemplating how I can make the office believe I’m there when I’m actually volcano hopping with you two!
    So glad you’re enjoying yourselves!

    • We are in Helsinki now and you would absolutely love it. Beautiful architecture, tons of sidewalk cafes with wine and beer, great shopping, tasty salmon dishes, cute blonde boys….

      • You guys totally know how to sell a place to me! Adding Helsinki to my ‘must visits’ now simply for the architecture!

  2. Thanks for the awesome pics! My parents were just at the Blue Lagoon a few weeks ago. Have not seen their pics yet. Now I know what they experienced!

  3. The Blue Lagoon was so cool, it’s great your parents made it there. Amanda says that the salts and minerals in the lagoon were great for the skin but horrible for the hair. She’s still layering on the conditioner.

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