March

How I got there:

I was flying to Finland with Iceland Air and when you do that, you can arrange a several day layover Reykjavík for free, which I did. Unfortunately, this meant that my first time in Iceland was short and I was jetlagged. Despite this, I'm glad was able to get taste of Iceland and it's people (who are wonderful) and I will hopefully be back for a longer adventure soon. I did a quick tour of Reykjavík as well as a short loop inland to visit Thingvellir National Park and see a little bit of the interior of the island. I was able to see Öxarárfoss (scenic waterfall), Gullfoss (huge waterfall), a geyser, a glacier, and a perfect countryside cabin complete with a hot tub and photogenic Icelandic horses running around nearby. 

 

That Day:

Reykjavík is on the edge of Faxaflói Bay and this means you can look directly across the water from the city to mountains, one of which is Mount Esja. On my last full day in Iceland one of the sons of the family I was staying with volunteered to take me on a hike just outside of Reykjavík to Mount Esja. And by volunteered I really mean was volunteered, as I believe his previous evening's festivities at a music festival meant that he would rather be resting that hiking straight up the side of a mountain.

​

The photo:

This picture is one of the reason while I always hike with my heavy DSLR. After a very steep hike up to a foggy summit, the clouds rose slightly to give us a better view of the surrounding area. As we descended, we went down a different trail that gave us a great view of a nearby peak. I stopped and snapped a quick picture of the trail with the leading towards the mountain and continued hiking down. Once I got to Finland (and had Covid) I had time to review my Iceland photos and this picture ended up being my favorite picture that I took there.