“Backpacking is great. But water is the blood of a landscape. In a boat, drifting at eye level with the water, undistracted by the cutting straps of an anvil pack, you can sit and feel the pulse of a place.”

- Bethea and Solomon

 

The idea for this expedition was born back in October when we began thinking about how we could explore the more remote and challenging landscapes of Iceland. Amiee immediately got us interested in the possibility of using packrafts to journey into the interior of the Vatnajokull National Park. Packrafting is a relatively new adventurous mode of transport which opens up a whole world of opportunities - especially through the mixed terrain and unpredictable waterways of the Icelandic Highlands.

 

With the excitement of using a relatively new and low impact mode of transport fueling our motivation, we began to plan the trip. However, if wasn’t until the very end of January that we got the green light - therefore, the race is now on to get ourselves prepared, paid for and packed in time for June the 22nd!

 

Our team aims to use packrafts to allow us to explore both the high mountains including Sveinstindur and the beautiful bodies of water from the bottom of Lake Langisjor to the foot of the Vatnajokull Glacier. We hope to provide documentation on both the waterways and everchanging landscape in this part of the Highlands as well as testing the scope for future packrafting in this area. We are a small team of students, studying at The School of Adventure Studies, West Highland College (part of the University of the Highlands and Islands).

 

This blog will allow us to document our preparation and the expedition itself - so please watch this space!