On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
twbrandt
In August of 2023, I went with a group of 16 people from my church to Iceland. The purpose of the trip was to hike the Laugavegur Trail, a 55 km (34 mile) trail through the southern Icelandic highlands. The trail is quite strenuous, with some long, steep, rocky ascents and descents. Robust hiking boots and trekking poles are a must. There are also a few streams to ford. Every 9-10 km there are accommodations consisting of sleeping huts, toilets, and hot showers. The sleeping huts are cabins with (usually) one large coed room with double bunks where you just unroll your sleeping bag and sack out. They each have a kitchen with cold running water and a propane-fueled stove, so you can at least boil water for coffee and cook a hot meal. The huts accommodate 30-40 people. The toilets and showers are in separate buildings. There are also campsites for those who prefer tents.
This is the last set of pictures from this trip.
The foreground is all volcanic rock deposited by glacial action. NASA tested its lunar rovers here, under the assumption that this more or less resembled the surface of the moon.
Game of Thrones, Lord of the Ring and The Hobbit, and other movies and TV shows that take place in otherworldly locations were filmed in this region.
Unicorn mountain.
A view of Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that erupted in 2010 that shut down all air traffic across the north Atlantic and northern Europe for several weeks. I can’t pronounce it either.
On the last day of the hike we went into this lovely gorge.
War for Ukraine Day 596: A Brief Thursday Night Update
OzarkHillbilly
Love that gorge.
vigilhorn
@OzarkHillbilly: Me too. It’s gorgeous.
evodevo
Can you imagine coming from Norway/Scotland/Ireland on a Viking boat and settling …. here?? Those Northmen were some hardy people!!
eclare
Such an interesting landscape, thanks again! I bet that hike was tough with the different terrains.
Alabama Blue Dot
My mom and one of my sisters were stuck in an airport in France when Eyjafjallajökull erupted. She and I took a trip to Iceland in November 2017. At one of our stops we could see the volcano and she got out and shook her finger at it like the little old Italian grandma she is. flic.kr/p/21We6as
eclare
@Alabama Blue Dot:
That is adorable.
twbrandt
@evodevo: the coastal areas, where pretty much everyone lives, are much more hospitable (relatively speaking) than the interior.
@eclare: The hike was pretty strenuous!
dm
Eyjafjallajokull is the glacier on top of the Eyjafjalla volcano.
Like most things, the Japanese have turned the volcano into a cute girl:
arknights.fandom.com/wiki/Eyjafjalla
dm
@evodevo: Now imagine being a Vietnamese refugee watching that landscape roll by the bus from the airport to your new home. Iceland took in a lot of Vietnamese in seventies and eighties.
stinger
Wonderful photos!
mvr
Nice!
pieceofpeace
@OzarkHillbilly: Me three. Night must be stunning as well.
Iceland has become very, very popular as a travel destintion. Was it ‘crowded?’
way2blue
RangárÞing Eystra looks like a sleeping dragon to me…
And. Eyjafjallajökull! The volcano began erupting while I was en route to Europe. Two hours out from Munich, my flight was diverted to Frankfurt. Along with scads of other flights. Spent an epic several hours trying to get to my lodging in Nord Tyrol, which included catching the last train out of Munich to Kufstein. Then a taxi ride with a young Austrian driver who depended on my meager German for directions to Walchsee… Iceland!
BigJimSlade
@vigilhorn: Have you been to Ithaca? (I haven’t but I’ve heard about this.)
twbrandt
@pieceofpeace: yes, there were a lot of tourists in Reykjavík and a lot of hikers on the trail from many different countries. We even ran into a guy from Ann Arbor, MI, where most of us are from.