Iceland

Through the Lava Fields to the Rim of Askja

Traversing the lunar desert of the Icelandic highlands to reach the milky-blue waters of Víti.

August 2018

Crossing the Dyngjufjöll mountains is a lesson in patience and tectonic scale. The road to Askja is no simple drive; it is a slow crawl across vast, undulating plains of black scoria and jagged lava fields that feel entirely removed from the verdant coastlines of the south. Here, the air is thinner, spiced with the faint scent of sulphur and the silence of a desert crafted by fire. Reaching the caldera, the landscape opens into a profound, hollowed-out world. Standing on the crumbling ridge of the Víti crater, the contrast of the turquoise geothermal pool against the deep, brooding water of Lake Öskjuvatn is startling. It is a raw, unfinished corner of the earth where the ground still hums with the memory of its own creation. Descending the steep, silty path into the crater for a swim in the opaque, tepid water is a ritual for the persistent. Surrounded by high, striated walls of volcanic ash, the scale of the Icelandic interior becomes undeniable—a desolate, beautiful wilderness that demands absolute respect.