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.

Beginning at Landmannalaugar, the Laugavegur Trail’s first 12KM climb through lava fields and colorful rhyolite mountains to a stark, fog-shrouded plateau near Hrafntinnusker.

Crossing glacial streams and shifting into raw volcanic terrain, the specialized bus took us to Landmannalaugar, the starting point for a 55-kilometer trek through the Icelandic Highlands.