16 Hours in Iceland 

16 HOURS IN A COUNTRY ON THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR

A return flight from Europe included a 16 hour layover in Iceland, and I instantly knew I wouldn’t spend the time waiting in the airport. Within an hour of touching down at 23:00, I was in a rental car driving north along the coast through a town that I couldn’t pronounce the name of. Aside from the sheep that roam the island the roads were empty and my spirits were high. I only had a rough sense of where I was headed, but the spontaneity of this journey fueled my inner sense of adventure with a childlike eagerness.

As I noticed the small digital clock in the car show midnight, I simultaneously watched the sun set below the horizon out on The Atlantic Ocean. I was here, in Iceland, on the longest day of the year. It was a brief yet purely magical experience.

DATE: JUNE 2022

WATERFALLS, SUNRISE, AND BIRDS EVERYWHERE

Glymur

After parking in a small dirt lot I started the hike through fields of purple lupine with the mountains in the distance. The sun was only below the horizon for a couple hours, but the sky had the effect of a prolonged sunrise with the soft edges of the clouds colored in pastel hues. After crossing a fast-flowing river on a fallen tree the trail meandered up the side of a cliff that opened up to an expansive view of the falls, the narrow canyon below, and The Atlantic Ocean in the distance. At three hours past midnight the only company were a couple sheep and countless birds soaring over the falls. The moment was peaceful yet indescribably powerful, confronted with this raw and wild view of nature.