flateyri

Through the wormhole

The glow in the night sky transcended reality: green shimmers and pink glimmers glinted and gleamed against a dark starscape. Eventually, thick bands swept their way over the mountains, across the fjord and onto the next valley deep in the Westfjords of Iceland, until one settled right atop me, albeit just for a moment.

Clear winter nights in the Pacific Northwest make me yearn for the Aurora spectacle that I had witnessed in the northern reaches of Iceland. And I hope to visit that magical display in the sky once again.

Flateyri

Westfjords, Iceland

Isolated in the Fjords

Deep inside the remote Westfjords, lies a windswept land still being sculpted by glaciers. Graceful U-shaped canyons cut through the  beautiful highlands. The barren landscape is just lined by just a carpet of fragile grass, populated by the oc…

Deep inside the remote Westfjords, lies a windswept land still being sculpted by glaciers. Graceful U-shaped canyons cut through the  beautiful highlands. The barren landscape is just lined by just a carpet of fragile grass, populated by the occasional white sheep hopping through the heather.

Life is hard in this desolate region, with a few centers of human population separated by miles of nothingness. Tourists rarely visit the sleepy villages that dot the area, but yet, it is a region of a different kind of dreary beauty. It is a place to find peace, and to be one with nature in a way no other place can.

This was taken on a short trail climbing up from the village of Flateyri in the Westfjords. The cloudy skies gave way to some amazing Northern lights that night, and it was truly a remarkable place to spend the day at.

Flateyri
Westfjords Iceland