Vatnajökull National Park, South Iceland

Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður - Vatnajökull National Park.

This was a brutal 16-mile (almost 26 kilometers) round trip hike to the remote Kjós campsite. We were the only intrepid ones, willing to deal with the changeable elements at that moment.

Every step was made more difficult by the ancient dried up riverbed of Morsárdalur.

There were no trails; it was just a seemingly endless expanse of beautiful pebbles...rhyolite alluvium to be precise, that sank and shifted beneath our feet.

The unparalleled views, isolation, the crisp glacial water you can drink straight out of the stream, and the Northern lights making an appearance that night made all our efforts worth it.

We lost our trail markers close to sunset, got my boots wet while crossing streams in a frantic dash for our campsite, we froze our asses off even with our sleeping bags and several layers of clothing. Our limbs reduced to mere jelly from fatigue, it was worth everything.

The pain of the moment forgotten in the beauty of it all, in the realization that you are but a small speck in the brilliance and vastness of this universe.

Nothing worthwhile or utterly life-changing has ever been easy to obtain.
I could wax poetic about Iceland forever, until I return someday.