The highland trail thins its hikers out quickly. As grand as the nature is, you are assured that each breath, each footfall, will carry you toward the destination you set out to reach.

Ten kilometers of flat, black desert, no shelter, totally exposed, just volcanic sand stretching to the horizon. Two hikers walk across the emptiness. Small, unhurried, resolute.

Hours of grinding over endless volcanic gullies, suddenly, Álftavatn lake spreads below in an impossible sweep of green.