Mount Esja, Habunga, Hatindur

went north of Reykjavik via public transit yesterday to the foot of Mount Esja to climb that monster. Esja, i'm pretty sure, is the collection of ranges that tower above the capital to the north. they don't look all that big from Reykjavik, but because of the low atmospheric perspective (that thing that makes things look far away), things that are incredibly far away are almost crystal clear. after driving towards this huge rock for 45 minutes, it just continues to loom larger and larger until the range is impossibly huge. it doesn't actually take that long to get to the top, like 2 hours or something, and the view is amazing the whole way up. anyways, i hiked up to the top of that sucker, and started heading over the next peak, which is Habunga.
that its another peak is a little misleading, because the entire top of the mountains in this area is a great rocky plateau, pretty much as far as you can see when you're in the middle of it. so i walked through moss covered vastness (the moss was FEET thick in places, felt like pillows), and fields of shattered stone surrounded by fog: about 10km. about halfway to Habunga, the sky finally opened up, and i was dumbstruck with the view. every direction is huge monster mountains, and no or very little development with exception to the south. and barely a tree in sight. i think i'm starting to kind of get people's respect for nature and belief in fairies, trolls, elves, etc. here. the land is magical, and its also difficult to think of it in terms of resources. because what are you gonna do with smashed rock and fields of moss and huge mountains? i dunno. nothing profitable. but maybe i'm full of shit.
i then scaled the remaining height of Hatinder, and the sky opened up pretty much completely there. i kept giggling in disbelief at how enormous and beautiful the landscape was there. i wish the pictures did it justice, but they don't. i highly recommend hiking in Iceland. once you've reached the top there are little aluminum boxes on some of the peaks with little guestbooks inside for people to sign (see the picture link at the end of this entry); makes you feel special. then i hiked down into some fields and walked back to the road. my bus took forever to come, so i started hitching. no luck. but the bus eventually came.

images!