Tag Archives: nature photography

A Short Mountain Identification Guide

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This is not a mountain. It is a plateau above Grundarfjörður, cut away by ice. It is, in other words, a fall, or a fjall in Iceland.

Similarly with Kirkjufell below, just west of town. Not a mountain either.

However, the one below, in Berserkerjarhraun is a mountain. Fire has heaped it up. It mounts.
The one below at Glitstaðir is tricky. Neither mountain nor fjall, it’s a fell (Skálafell). Behind the farm it rises to 225 metres.

But this is just a glacier: langjökull, seen from Reykholt.

There just aren’t many mountains in Iceland. Lots of places where you can fall down, though.

Leprechauns in Iceland? Yes!

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So, here it is, Gulfoss, translated as “Golden Falls.”

The water, as you can see from its colour, comes from the glacier. No gold there.

And the gold? Well, at settlement 55% of Icelanders were Irish women dragged along against their will and making the most of it. I suspect a leprechaun or two came along, because leprechauns like to hide a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, and, well…

You are virtually promised to see a rainbow at Gulfoss. Don’t try for the pot of gold, though. It’s dangerous down there where the river disappears into the earth. Fairyland, they call that.

Maybe a trip to the glacier? Much safer.

Langjökull

And what is a glacier? Why, just look at it: white gold, of course.

Grundarfoss and Its Mysteries

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I took this image of Grundarfoss on a very cold morning because, well, how cool is it that the public water supply of a major city of 872 people (huge for Iceland) is a waterfall. Very cool! So cool, I could hardly hold the camera steady.

But look what I missed, at the base of the cliff just to the right of the base of the main fall: a lava tube. Now, how cool is that! But, of course, it’s a public water supply, so no snooping around there. Rats. What about the troll at the base of the hill at the left of the image. I bet they’d let me go visit it.

Sea of Milk: Renaming Iceland for Fun

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Time to make a new map. Here, let’s start:

And the map?

Perfect. Wouldn’t it be fun to make maps rather than to follow them? To discover Iceland, like the settlers did, because it is, after all, a culture of settlement? For instance, Hafnarfjall …

… would be…

Mount of Atlantis (on the Sea of Milk)

It sounds like it’s on the Moon, doesn’t it, but, well…

… the place already looks like that, too!