Around 9:20 a.m. on Friday, September 18th the students, including myself, and advisers of the 2015 CELL Fall Semester in Iceland pulled into the entrance for the Skaftafellsjökull visitor center and accompanying trails. Passing the visitor center we proceeded on a rough dirt road until we reached the trail head for the M3, a flat rocky trail that would transition to the wooded M2 trail and eventually lead us to our destination: Morsarjokull. After Jason led us through a quick yoga session for stretching purposes, we hit the trail with Dave as our leader. M3 crossed and traced the shoreline of the Morsa River, offering stunning views of the mountains lining the valley. Once we reached M2, Morsarjokull revealed itself; in the distance, the crest of the brilliant glacier shone in the soft rays of the morning sun, filling me with a sense of blissful anticipation. Despite the challenging indication on the map key, the M2 trail was just as flat as M3, but changed from a rocky plain to an old growth birch forest. After approximately six miles of hiking we reached the glacier and Morsarlon, the glacial fed lake in the forefront. The sight before me was truly amazing! Unadultured natural beauty coupled with the looming presence of glacial precipices and lapidarian mountainscape promoted a mixed feeling of empowerment and humility. Upon arriving Karin and Hank explained that the following half an hour would be devoted to finding our own spot in the valley. Through this assignment we where given a chance to sit in harmonious alliance with nature and appreciate the true magnitude of our surroundings. Perched upon a boulder overlooking Morsarlon, Dave and I did just that. It was during this time that Dave had the idea to try and summit the mountain to our right. After the time for our assignment was up, the group decided that we should spend an additional hour to explore the area. Dave, Hans, and I set out for Svarthamrar; a mountain we didn’t know the name of at the time, but had noticed during the extended sit. With such limited time, we had to move quickly and take breaks infrequently, but made impressive altitudinal gain. In the end, we all made it to different stopping points shy of the summit but since Hans had the only time keeping device we remained within shouting distance to relay the final call. The physical exhaustion, and the overwhelming freedom of mind and body associated with the unparalleled vistas and unfamiliar flora and fauna, made this experience in Morsa the most impactful for me thus far. Rory Davis
