LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/142191
Fire & Ice By Jonathan Esper Fire J&u Ice epic o rney Story and Photos By Johnathan Esper I celand and the Adirondacks are worlds apart in just about every way, yet these are two of my favorite wilderness areas to photograph and explore. Many travel publications have recently ranked Iceland among the "top" or "hottest" places to visit and for good reason. Even if its weather isn't 'hot', at least it's geothermal pools are! Its geography, culture, and eco-tourism possibilities make it unique among travel destinations. As an Adirondack native, I've found it easy to overlook great places in one's own realm in search of the next epic destination. The Adirondacks have a charm that grows on you, and it's a journey in itself, searching out its most beautiful spots. As a professional photographer, I've been fortunate to explore many of the world's wildernesses, and have found that few rival Iceland. It offers a multitude of iconic destinations, set amid an otherwise rather stark landscape. Unlike the Adirondacks, these natural gems are more easily accessed, yet still retain a wilderness character, enabling an informed tourist to see the best of Iceland with relative ease. "Fire and ice" is a common phrase that characterizes Iceland. Situated on a three-way tectonic plate divide, volcanoes are everywhere. Often times they erupt under massive glacial ice plateaus, creating large volcanic-generated floods that wipe out sections of the country's single coastal ring roadway. Twisted old bridge girders left sticking out of braided flood plains, alongside the newer bridges, are testament to the volcanic floods' power. Icelanders and tourists seek out the smaller molten lava eruptions by driving SuperJeeps with large tires over glaciers and icecaps. Sub-glacial hot springs also carve out spectacular hollow ice caves, allowing an intrepid explorer to stand barefoot in a 28 LOCALadk Magazine Summer 2013 Seljalandsfoss waterfall and Icelandic horse warm water stream underneath a glacier. These geological processes, along with traditional glacial-melt streams, create a spectacular, otherworldly tableau of blue crystal facets of ice. Some of this ice was a thousand years in the making – can you imagine being the first person in the world's history to witness this newly exposed ice, or to taste the purity of water frozen for a thousand years? This is truly epic. Iceland is more than fire and ice, of course. Icelandic nature offers much more. Stream banks are covered with the softest, brightest, neonlime-green moss set amid vast barren gravel highlands. Waterfalls are so abounding, people have not even bothered to name them all. One that is named, Dettifoss, is Europe's most powerful by volume. Natural and developed geothermal hot pools abound, with the naturally heated pools serving as the traditional center of social life for nearly all towns around the country. Geothermal pools and rivers are everywhere throughout the wilderness, offering relaxation and warmth after a hard day exploring some of Iceland's rugged landscape. Landmannalaugar is one popular and completely natural Highland geothermal pool, producing hot springs and bathing pools for Icelanders and tourists camping nearby amid the lava flows and colorful ryolite hills. Ten minutes from the international airport, travelers can soak in the world renowned Blue Lagoon, created by the outflow of a nearby geothermal power plant, with its luxurious silica-rich sky-colored waters. There is no end to the reasons I love Iceland's nature. Some favorites: Lying on a grassy headland on top of sea cliffs with flocks of puffins flying overhead; diving in blue-hued spring water inside Silfra crack between the North American and European tectonic plates, which was filtered for 30 years through lava flows and offers 50-meter visibility;