Navigating northern Iceland during the dark and freezing winter months is not for the feint of heart. In fact, American Apollo astronauts trained in Iceland in 1965 and 1967 in order to develop observational skills in recognizing basic geologic structures.
Author of a recent article in The Toronto Star, Bill Taylor traveled nearly 1,200 miles through northern Iceland in a Jeep Grand Cherokee and compares the rough terrain to the lunar surface. Taylor points out that without cell phone service or roadside assistance and with incredibly rough, unpredictable weather and there’s plenty to keep you on your toes. “The weather, like the terrain, turns on a dime,” writes Bill Taylor, “Moorland to mountains to lava field and streaming (don’t touch!) thermal pools; sunshine to driving rain to dense fog…”
However, months with 24 hours of sunlight in the summer, Iceland transforms into a welcoming, green land full of life with “sheep and shaggy ponies wandering free.” Taylor also toured eastern Iceland and saw wild reindeer, a fledgling forest, shaggy-maned ponies, otherworldly scenery, and “terrain that veers between bleak and rugged, but is seldom short of breathtaking.”
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