We passed through Iceland's farm region and past the town of Hverageroi, known for its greenhouse vegetables. Hverageroi is also known for its hot springs, and has for years been a spot where people go to bathe in naturally warm, mineral-rich springs. We also passed within site of Hekla, Iceland's most active volcano. The volcano stands almost 1,500 meters high and is due for another eruption any day now, according to our tour guide.

One of the first sites you see when you reach the valley of Thorsmork is Seljalandsfoss, one of Iceland's most famous and beautiful waterfalls. If you're a fan of the television show The Amazing Race, you may recognize this--it was seen in Season Six. The waterfall comes from the river Seljalandsá, which empties about 60 meters above the pool below. A trail leads behind the falls, and when you get mid-way, you're overwhelmed by the deep bass resonance made by the water as it plunges into the pool below. One of my tour mates likened it to nature's version of a rave.

Thorsmork is a huge valley bisected by the river Krossa, and our guides--driving full-sized Nissan Patrol 4x4s with oversized tires and, in some cases, snorkels for air intakes, navigated it with ease. You could also tell they were having a great bit of fun--they'd often ford deep glacial streams, finding unique paths, then double back and see if their colleagues could do better. Having said that, there was a rough trail cut through the river valley, though it was nothing navigable by any vehicle with anything less than full-time four-wheel drive.

Thorsmork is surrounded on two sides by glaciers--Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull, and the river cuts between mountains. As a result, the weather in Thorsmork can be very mild even when there are vicious winds whipping around elsewhere--it's a very gentle valley with some of the best farming in the country, according to Luli.

After we'd bumped and jostled our way over Krossá, which was largely dried up this time of year as its waters are trapped back in the glaciers that feed it, we got out and walked a trail to the river Markarfljot. That trail took us up a couple of relatively steep inclines--a few of us had to stop and catch our breath. Mountain streams and brooks frequently bisected the trail, but there were plenty of wooden footbridges to help us pass (a few of them had suffered a bit of damage and wear, however).