A trip to Iceland became for photographer Carey Haider a life lesson. On his journey taking the ring road around Iceland, he had to fight against all the harsh elements this incredible and beautiful island has to offer.

Carey Haider’s log / Dec 21st, 2015
An airplane dropped myself and a few other explorers off in Reykjavik at 4am. We took a bus to town and got dropped off. A miles walk into the void ended up with setting up camp in a field next to a church and napping until our counterpart arrived with a vehicle. The next 9 days turned into fighting high winds with the survivalist need of staying warm and dry.  Our journey was to take the ring road around the whole island. My nights consisted of my Snowpeak tent serving as a windbreaker while I cocooned into a Snowpeak sleeping bag with a jumpsuit and multiple layers on. With the sun never setting this became a battle of your body not knowing when it wants to go to bed. They say what doesn’t hurt you only makes you stronger. Every time I went to bed my mind raced and I always brought myself back to reality remembering always follow the wind. We are here to live and write our own book of life. Being comfortable doesn’t teach you lessons and if the road was always straight you wouldn’t get to where you are now. Iceland became a life lesson to me. The incredible beauty of Iceland is like a venus fly trap. You easily can get sucked in and eaten. Every corner is a waterfall and beautiful setting but what comes along with this is cliffs, river crossings, and bipolar weather. A few river crossings almost swept the car away and more times than I could count I was wearing thin from the elements. The end of the road finally came and we made our fair wells to an amazing country and each other.

Featured by snowpeak.com