Icelandic Adventure

We all travel to different places, but I believe we take pieces of the places we have lived at with us wherever we go.

I’m from the Shenandoah valley and am on an 8-day trip to see various landmarks along the Ring Road with two of my friends from the United States; Jesse who is also a Shenandoah Valley native, and Noah who grew up in South Carolina and now lives in the Shenandoah Valley with his wife.

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Glaciers about a mile upstream from Diamond Beach. Just to the left of this picture is a bridge, and underneath is the opening this lake connects to the ocean. Glaciers float through the opening and are broken apart where they scatter across the black sand coast, giving Diamond Beach its name. Left to right: Noah, Jesse, and myself.

I started this website/blog to have an outlet to share some thoughts. It will be fun to look back on in the future, and will also be a good way to share the experience with people when they ask “how was Iceland?” and want more details than my memory has capacity for. If you want to get notified when I post again, you can subscribe.

Trips like this attract people experiencing transition in their life, and I’m no different with my wedding in less than a month. The places we are visiting (especially the waterfalls we’ve seen so far; Gullfoss (huge), Seljalandsfoss (picturesque), Glugafoss (inside jokes), Skogafoss (wet joyful chaos and great photos at the bottom, truly peaceful at the top), and Kvernafoss (nestled in the cliffs), are absolutely overwhelming in their beauty, size, and depth. If you lock your eyes on one “clump” of water as it falls from the top, it may dissipate into mist, or make it all the way down and crash again into the single flowing stream that continues as far as you can see.

Svartifoss

We almost skipped this waterfall due to the 45 minute 1 way hike required after an already long day. We were glad we came. The basalt columns frame the waterfall with the appearance of a pipe organ. Photo by Noah.

The photos cannot capture what it’s like to stand in front of a waterfall with the crushing sound of water, the mist as it blows out into the surrounding rocks and moss, and the sweeping views beyond all peripherals. The photos also cannot capture the aching legs, the sun that doesn’t hardly set, the sheer steepness of rarely charted paths, and figuring out how to set up camp each night. Being here is more than a good picture or a short moment; it’s a visceral experience.

Life isn’t handed to you here. By coming, you leave behind the patterns and habits you had built, and each day begins with a fresh round of “where do we drive,” “what should we eat,” “how long should we stay,” “is it worth it to take a shower,” etc. This isn’t really good or bad, it’s just different then the way things are for most people living in the same place for a while. And to be sustainable, this type of adventure requires help from “occupiers” - people who have occupied the same place for a long time. First rent.is, who equipped us with a car, gear, and necessary knowledge and technology for the road. Also every campsite who makes a place for adventurers passing through. The Langbrok campsite welcomed us as if we were family. We wondered if the people working there lived onsite because the environment there felt like a home. Travel like this cannot happen unless you’re supported by people who have been willing to occupy that place before you, unless maybe you have the mindset, skills, and determination of Daniel Boone, and developing that kind of lifestyle takes a lifetime of commitment, and still requires the intermittent support from occupiers back home.

Moss covered lava fields beside the Ring Road. Left to right: Dacia Duster, Noah, Myself. Photo by Jesse.

Adventures are also supported by fellow travelers, including the group you travel with and those you encounter along the way. In the common area at the Langbrok campsite, we started a conversation with a fellow adventurer named Jonathan from Budapest, Hungary, currently living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who truly enjoys the outdoors. He gave us encouragement and advice for the road ahead. We felt a sense of community

At the campground at Vik during our breakfast on the 4th morning of our trip, we overheard bits of a riveting conversation between two fellow adventurers who had encountered one another along the way. Their conversation was full of excitement as they recounted the places they had been to and the places they were planning to go and the advice they gave one another since they both shared such a deep passion for adventure. They looked like adventurers, dressed like adventurers, and even had their hair styled as adventurers (I can’t describe it but they definitely had it). My favorite line I overheard: “there is an external adventure happening around you, but there is also an internal adventure happening inside you.” I have nothing to add. A large part of me wishes I was sitting at their table to listen more closely and maybe ask a question or two. But it also felt too sacred to interrupt.

Icelandic sheep - this guy was hardcore. Photo by Jesse.

Someone might look at the role of the adventurer and the person running the rental company/campsite, or the “occupier” as opposites, but they’re both a resource to one another; two pieces of something larger that is happening. Both the adventurer and the occupier share pieces of where they have lived with one another, even through the simple exchange following “where are you from?”

This is also true in our individual lives. Because I have occupied a place back in the Shenandoah Valley where I work, I can use some of the resources from that occupation to financially sustain an adventure far away from home. Invitations to adventure tend to show up in places that have been occupied for a long time - the Shire from Tolkien’s books being a prime example of such a place.

Flúðir Camping Ground

First night setting up camp. Our current rhythm is one of us sleeps up top, one of us sleeps in a tent, and one of us sleeps in the car.

Frodo met a lot of resistance on the road because he was “just” a hobbit from the Shire, but what many didn’t understand in the story (and what we still miss today) is that Frodo was ripe for the adventure not despite who he was and the place he had occupied, but because of who he was and the place he had occupied.

What adventure are you ripening for?