How NOT To Hike Esja

2/11/14

First of all, holy crap it's November. I remember when I was imagining how cool it would be to go to Iceland Airwaves last year, and now the festival is in 3 days! (Unfortunately, I can't go to the venues because I'm under 20, but some of the bands do off-venue concerts when they're not performing on stage, which anyone can attend, plus they're free.) 

Okay, story time: on the fifth of September my host mom, her niece, and I drove to Esja to do some hiking. In hindsight, there was no indicator that this was going to end well, and many suggesting the contrary. Particularly the weather. But what can I say? Our trio was determined.

Upon arrival:

''Well. That's not good.''

The hills were still breathtaking, though. Scenery like that reminds me that the earth is really, really old, but at the same time ever-changing.

And so, the hike began:

The woman in purple is my host mom, and the woman behind her is Elísabet, her niece (or, as an Icelander would say, ''her brother's daughter'').

 Now for some landscapes.

If this is what the views are like on a rainy day, I can't wait to go when it's sunny.

It was one of those rock statue things that people make by balancing stones on top of each other. First time I'd seen one in person.

This stream looked really familiar. I think Esja might be where my old desktop background was photographed. Cool, right?

Aaand...that's all I've got. I think we were between the second and third checkpoint out of five (we weren't going all the way to the top, just to Steinninn--''the stone'') when it started pouring, so I shut off my camera and kept it in my backpack for the rest of the hike. The real fun began when we got near the last checkpoint, where it was both the steepest and rockiest. You know what's more slippery than wet rocks? Wet, mossy rocks. And if there's anything Iceland is abundant in, other than licorice, it's rain and mossy rocks. For the last part of our ascent and the majority of our descent I was just focusing on not dying. Still, it makes for a pretty funny story.