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Our final day-trip and hike was in the Keringarfjoll geothermal area in the central Highlands. To reach Keringarfjoll, we drove along the Kjolur highland road, which starts just past the beautiful Gullfoss waterfall. This route, which is 120 km of deeply rutted gravel road full of rocks and potholes, passes between the Langjökull and Hofsjökull glaciers before emerging the Ring Road on the northwest coast. It is open only during the summer months, and it had just opened a few days before drove the first part of it. We followed it past Lake Hvitarvatn, which sits just below Langjokull glacier, stopping for views along the way. About an hour+ along the Kjolur route, a newly upgraded road leads to the Kerlingafjoll mountain range, which is situated in the shadow of Hofsjokull glacier.

At Kerlingarfjöll we found an array of scenery, including majestic mountains, a deep canyon, a view over the glacier and the river valley, and some amazing geothermal fields. It was in this other-worldly geothermal area that we hiked in late afternoon, enjoying the late sun that broke through after a cloudy afternoon. At first glance, it doesn’t seem a likely prospect for hiking. Steam is rising from streams and hillsides, with fumaroles and sulphurous bubbling mudholes dotting the colorful rhyolite mountains. Fortunately, a series of trails guide you safely along the ridges and streams.

The experience of walking in Kerlingarfjoll is clearly unlike anything I’ve encountered before. I had the feeling I was hiking on another planet, or at least on a much younger earth. Then again, in geological terms Iceland is young – the oldest rock is only 16 million years old, making the island an infant on a planet that is several billion years old. And humans only stumbled upon Iceland eleven centuries ago, and for much of that time nature has kept the residents alert with continuously adapting to the unpredictable forces of nature. With more active volcanoes than most other places on earth, Iceland is still in the process of being created, and no one is sure exactly how it will develop. Certainly a walk through an active geothermal landscape such as Kerlingarfjoll will remind one of the power of nature and its constantly changing dynamics -- the essence of Iceland!