This travelogue is about my trip to Iceland in the summer of 2014. Ísland, the "Land of Fire and Ice", is an island in the middle of the north Atlantic that is basically just volcanoes and lava plains and icecaps and glaciers and fjörds and complete desolation created by massive lava flows and complete desolation created by massive floods of meltwater.
And it is a land of complete wonder.
This trip to Iceland has been in the back of my mind for over 25 years. I had convinced my geomorphology professor in my senior year to allow me to write my thesis on Iceland geology (rather than on a geologic province of North America). A promise that "I'm going to Iceland as a present to myself when I graduate from college this year" was what I had in mind. But it didn't happen. I don't remember why; actually, to be honest, it hasn't been in the back of my mind, "when're you gonna go?" Even the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull didn't bring to mind that promise.
So, why now? A vacation in Malta in 2012 and a two days' side trip to Sicily to see Mount Etna, an active volcano. Steam rising from the top to remind you of that. I rented all four seats of the 4WD jeep and had the geologist-guide to myself for an extended eight hour excursion on the mountain. Skip the scenic vistas. Only science. I'd known I would be a geologist since 8th grade's earth sciences class. Then I'd sealed it on coming across a Life magazine article, with pictures of a vulcanologist at the edge of a Caribbean volcano caldera, full of orange-red lava. I had declared my major three weeks into my freshman year at college.
Mount Etna was the kick-start, and now I'm finally off to Iceland! Three weeks of pure geology, hiking on lava fields and glaciers and soaking in geothermal pools and sunbathing on black sand beaches. To prepare myself, I've been hiking every other day and top-roping the 15 meter climbing wall since February. I need three weeks of stamina or else, and I need to get over my fear of heights because there's an insane ice-wall climbing opportunity I'd have to pass on otherwise, and now I'm ready for it.
And I've found that geomorphology paper I wrote (unbelievable that I still have it), see how much has changed. I'll post that soon!
[O my gods Þór and Óðinn, "The Land of Fire and Ice" is not the same as The Lands of Ice and Fire. The latter has nothing to do with Iceland! It's a book of maps about a place of "violence, sexuality and moral ambiguity". Hmm, actually, this pretty much describes the 1000 years of Icelandic history.]
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