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Two days ago, I completed a 12-day, approximately 240-mile (386 km) self-supported hike and float (packrafted about the last 40 miles) sea-to-sea across Iceland from the south coast to a fjord on the north coast. Most of the route was on trails, some on dirt roads, some on river, while a couple of sections were cross country in trailless wilderness (among the highlights). It was mostly amazing, at times challenging, and very uncertain as I had little to no information about most of the route. Iceland has been crossed many times but never by this route as far as I can tell. My intention was to do a cool trip that tied in with my research work here in Iceland centered in part on conflicts between energy development and conservation as well as issues around roads and wilderness, and similar intersecting topics. This allowed me to gain a lot of first hand familiarity with my main research subject and to learn the land one step or stroke at a time, which is incomparably more intimate than any other form of travel. I intend to integrate my experiences and ample photos from this trip into a published article based on my research. I hope to find an outlet willing to run my article. Stay tuned (it will take many months at least). I also plan to create a great presentation about it that I hope to give at various venues. PS: DISCLAIMER - some sections of this route are extremely dangerous; do not attempt to repeat. Website here.
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Chris Dunn, PhD
Researcher, writer, explorer*, photographer, thinker. Wrestling with nature, culture, technology. Archives
October 2024
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*When I use the term "exploration", I mean it in a personal sense (discovery for myself, or at a unique moment in time [everywhere after all--even crowded cities--endlessly await rediscovery--by new eyes and in new moments]), not in an absolute sense. With few exceptions (notably Antarctica), almost everywhere on earth has had other people around for a long time (though to varying degrees - high mountain tops or places like the interior of the Greenland Ice Sheet for instance were far less visited and populated, and undoubtedly at least some pockets of the earth were never visited or populated). It is an enlightening experience though when on an isolated ridge in what feels like the middle of nowhere to wonder if anyone has set foot there but never knowing for sure. What is significant is that the landscape itself is left in such a condition that it isn't evident. Some places ought to be kept that way.
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