It appeared as nothing more than a small road climbing up to a rolling uplands, a grass-covered green hilly terrain devoid of any trees, with a tiny creek meandering out from a small canyon. A quizzical look passed by my buddy's eye as I urged him to turn into that road that the road-sign helpfully indicated as Fjaðrárgljúfur, a name that would surely stump a spelling bee winner.

But as we got closer, the terrain became more dramatic. The creek still continued its slow course upstream, but on either sides, towering stone walls stood beside finger-like projections of earth. And as we climbed higher and higher, the geology became as twisted and gnarled as its confounding name. Finally, from its very end, I looked back at the twisted walls of the canyon, with green vegetation sticking to every possible slope, slowly mellowing away to the flatlands yonder; I kept wishing I had had time to explore this canyon from the river, a perspective that would have been rather unique. There's certainly more to this  place than meets the eye

Fjaðrárgljúfur
Iceland