Iceland: Hell, Black Mars & Heaven.

 You know the phrase "been to Hell & back...", we have, but curiously Heaven is in the same place. You might be wandering through a lush green mossy meadow full of delicate flowers and mosses, then a little whiff, then bubbling Hell-cauldrons.

This curious malachite waterfall, about 6" high is a jelly-like mass of heat-loving algae or cyanobacteria

Rosette of basalt, presumably solidifying from a central vent.

Foamy lava, cooling too fast for the air bubbles to escape, at it's extreme is pumice, light enough to float.

Minerals colour the rocks in a rather Fauvist way, the photos are totally unmodified, the colours really are like this. It's odd to see Hell-fire next to glacier remains, sadly all shrinking.

                                       A tranquil moment at Alftavatn, Icelandic for Swan Lake

Campsite at Landmannalaugar, many rainbows, weather changes faster and more often even than here

The same from above,

The heavenly hot spring for wallowing.

Middle Earth?

Torvi's canyon, the legend is that Torvi, a young hero ran off with the local chief's daughter, escaping by picking her up & jumping over this, at the far end. He followed, but here the tale has 3 endings, take your pick.

1, the chief falls to his death & they go off free

2. the chief just misses and grabs the edge

2a. the girl stamps on hos finger so he falls

2b. Torvi saves him, so is allowed to marry his girl...

The same gorge, looking the other way, you can see where the end of the central mountain has been eroded off by the river-in-flood.

Just made it before the next storm!

                     Gorges cut by glacial floods, dramatic when they're melted by volcanic activity.

The first trees, coming into Thorsmork (Thor's forest, the Icelandic uses one of their old AngloSaxon letter looking like a P!)