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00:24How's the day?
00:29We did a crossing that like, if Dune wasn't there, I would never have done it in a million years.
00:55Ten years ago, I witnessed Iceland's massive glacial rivers from above for the first time.
01:02I guess you could say that in that moment, the seed was sown and I was obsessed.
01:12There's something so captivating about looking down on these river systems that I spent the next decade capturing and documenting
01:18their beauty from the sky.
01:25It wasn't until about two years ago that I was driving back from Iceland's east fjords that the idea finally
01:31hit.
01:32Would it be possible to cross this remote stretch of coast on my bike, unsupported, in order to get up
01:38close and personal with these rivers?
01:40What would it be like to experience them on the ground level?
01:47I spent the next year poring over maps, talking to locals, and most importantly, learning how to raft, the key
01:53ingredient to this crazy expedition.
01:56The obstacles to do this were massive, but like most things with me, once the idea is planted in my
02:01head, it's pretty hard to get rid of it.
02:28What do you think?
02:30I mean, I'm excited.
02:32I'm not less scared, but I'm definitely trying to release a little bit of this stress.
02:39I mean, we're standing at the very eastern terminus of the route.
02:43I think I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight because I'm going to be thinking about it so much.
02:47I just want to go right now.
02:51This part of the world is fabled.
02:55It's home to some of the most remote stretches of Black Sand Beach in the world, and the environment is
03:00extremely dangerous.
03:02Atlantic storms have claimed countless ships and sailors' lives along the southern coast of Iceland.
03:08After hearing so much about the shipwrecks and deaths here, it was easily the most daunting part of the trip.
03:13On top of that, our route was intersected by nearly 40 rivers.
03:17We would need to cross them, and those crossings would be our biggest crux.
03:23While I had done many bike expeditions in harsh conditions, doing something like this seemed nearly impossible and terrifying.
03:31So I reached out to the one person who had the experience to tackle something just like this, Steve Fassbender,
03:37a.k.a. Doom.
03:39In some way, riding with Doom was something I've always dreamt of.
03:43A rite of passage, basically.
03:45You know, that experience of being with somebody who knows and has seen so much.
03:49He's an absolute legend.
03:51Highly experienced in both bikepacking and rafting disciplines.
03:54And the way he reads water, it's unlike anything I've ever seen.
04:00We've been on countless trips to Alaska, Pakistan, Tajikistan, South America.
04:04You name it. Endless.
04:06This guy has packed his bike in every way possible.
04:10Even on the back of a llama.
04:12Cam, how we feeling, buddy?
04:14Good.
04:16You guys ready?
04:17Yeah.
04:19Also joining us would be Cameron Lawson, a legend in his own right.
04:23An adventure photographer and Alaskan bush pilot who had some bike rafting under his belt, too.
04:29He bike rafted the lost coast of Alaska and also floated 200 miles of the Yukon River.
04:34And it made sense that he would round out the crew.
04:46We're about to leave, which is like a long time coming.
04:49Ready for the first thing to go wrong, I guess.
04:52Just waiting for it.
04:54It started a very big day.
04:55As the plan came together, I knew I wanted to capture this story.
04:59But it would be a huge challenge.
05:04So I put out a few calls to people I knew in the area and enlisted my friend, Siggy.
05:09Siggy grew up on the southern coast and knew the area like the back of his hand, which would be
05:14critical for the mission.
05:17Also joining the production crew were photographers Ryan Hill and Jeremy Bishop, as well as filmmaker Brian Davis.
05:24We established a series of meeting places along the route.
05:27At a few instances where our route would meet up with roads or towns.
05:31This would be Vestrahorn, a super scenic mountain peak on the ocean in the east.
05:35Yukolsodon, the glacial lagoon where large chunks of ice break from Iceland's biggest glacier and flow into the ocean.
05:43VÃk, a quaint town along a long stretch of black sand beach.
05:47And ultimately culminating in the crown jewel, the Thorsau River.
05:52Many of the rivers we'd be crossing were gems in their own right.
05:55Cutting and winding their way through stunning landscapes and showing off strands and fans of glacial sediment.
06:01But of all the rivers, the Thorsau River stands out without question.
06:05It's Iceland's biggest river.
06:07And it also happens to be glacial water.
06:10The colors in this river are the most vibrant and stunning of all.
06:13This is the river that first captured my attention.
06:16The true reason why this project came to life in the first place.
06:20And it just so happened to be at the very end of a very long route.
06:25But with so many dangerous river crossings between here and there,
06:28I wasn't actually sure we'd make it to the Thorsau at all.
06:39So what is bike rafting?
06:44Essentially, it's the process of packing an inflatable raft on your bike
06:47to allow you to cross bodies of water.
06:52First, you break down your bike.
06:56Then you inflate your raft.
06:59Put your half-assembled bike onto the raft.
07:02Basically on the nose, balancing out the weight of the raft.
07:08Then you ride the river.
07:09Send it over waterfalls or whatever you need to do.
07:13We're about to attempt our first crossing.
07:17In our case, we use the pack raft as a tool to explore
07:21and move through these massive river systems and other bodies of water.
07:24Some being 30 feet across.
07:26Some being thousands of feet across.
07:28Some are rocky.
07:29Some are fast.
07:30Some have different types of bottoms.
07:32Some have steep, scary banks.
07:34Easily the scariest thing has to do with wind on the water.
07:37Because you have no keel or fin or any kind of control.
07:40You're getting pushed around everywhere, sideways, even backwards at times.
07:44And you don't know what you're going to encounter on the other side.
07:48I'd say the most dangerous thing, the biggest challenge really,
07:51are trying to avoid the river mouse.
07:52River mouse are kind of like the death zone.
07:54It's where there's surf, there's waves,
07:56and everything speeds up and surges into this chaotic system.
07:59It's creating sleeper waves, undertow, and all kinds of hidden dangers.
08:04We tried to avoid that at all costs.
08:08So bike rafting is pretty simple in theory.
08:10But when you start to do it, it becomes complicated fast.
08:14When you're thinking about crossing 41 rivers,
08:16you're basically inflating and deflating that raft
08:19and breaking down your bike 82 times.
08:22It eats up so much time and you're just subjecting your bike
08:24and all the pieces of it to salt water and black volcanic sand.
08:28It's brutal.
08:42It felt so good to be finally off and riding.
08:45But right off the bat, we encountered our first problems.
08:54He just needs a pretty major adjustment.
08:57Which isn't too bad to fix, but like, you gotta do it right.
09:01It takes a little while.
09:05Yeah, so we got Doom here.
09:08Nasty mechanic.
09:19This is crazy.
09:22I can't believe we're here.
09:36That's like the perfect spot over there.
09:39Am I dreaming?
09:41Maybe just a little bit.
09:44Today was mega.
09:46We did like the first big chunk of our route.
09:50Bunch of open water crossings.
09:53A couple of rivers.
09:55And the weather has been incredible.
10:01A little hot air.
10:03A little hot air.
10:21A little hot air.
10:26Oh my god.
10:29This is incredible.
10:30Woo!
11:03I really didn't know after the first day when we'd see the production team again.
11:07They had our GPS location and were trying to track us from a distance and find areas
11:11where they can meet up with us.
11:13But the problem is waves and tides on these beaches cause the sands to shift constantly.
11:19Sometimes new islands are formed in a matter of days.
11:22Other areas of the coast are separated from roads by impassable volcanic terrain.
11:26The most promising areas for coastal access are often private farmland that's guarded
11:31by farmers who are protective and wary of tourists.
11:34We just arrived to Hotel Schmittlerberg.
11:36They told us we could grab a cup of coffee here and that we're also going to ask them
11:41about roads that lead down to the shore here.
11:45Yeah.
11:46Well this road will definitely get us part of the way down.
11:49Hey man.
11:53Nice.
11:53Nice.
11:54I'm going to just see you all far this goes and flip around down here.
11:59It's pretty nice weather.
12:01We're out here checking the road trying to get to the beach.
12:05There's a shelter up ahead that the guys have taken refuge from the elements and we're trying
12:11to get there to meet them but we're not sure if we can.
12:13The road's all kind of underwater and the sand could be soft.
12:18We're out here.
12:18Day 3.
12:20Pretty crappy weather.
12:23Cold and drizzly.
12:26About to be rainy and windy.
12:28But we've only got 22 miles to do.
12:31A couple crossings.
12:38It's not ringing.
12:40I feel like.
12:41Blush, blush.
12:42Yeah.
12:44Next number.
12:45I've been in a total goose chase.
12:47I've been calling like a million farmers.
12:51But hopefully we're able to get a driver for tomorrow that has a truck capable of taking
12:56us down to the shore because it's, yeah, it's not a good road down there.
13:22The film crew was on their own and our focus is on the ride.
13:26Our heads had to be in the moment because the upcoming section was going to be the first
13:31proper test of our approach.
14:01The End
14:02What makes Iceland's glacier rivers so captivating is the unique process that creates them.
14:09Pieces of rock come loose and the glacier pulls them along with it.
14:14Water flowing along the bottom of the glacier seeps down in the rock below.
14:19As the glacier flows down a mountain, it gets warmer and starts to melt.
14:24And as a glacier melts, the rocks fall to the ground and the material becomes a tasty
14:30mixture of rocks, stones, sand and clay known as glacial till.
14:36The melted ice turns into melt water and flows downhill into a larger body of water, ultimately
14:43the ocean.
14:45And as this glacial till fans across the riverbeds, something magical happens.
14:51The colors, contrast and textures seem to open a window into another world.
15:28We had just made our most challenging crosses in the sky.
15:30and so far everything was looking good.
15:32The weather had cooperated and our equipment was tight.
15:39And now we were crossing a threshold into a very remote section of the route.
15:45This region was home to some of the biggest dangers of the journey.
15:49It was a place where some of the most raw elements of nature collide.
15:54And waves and wind create and destroy islands of sand.
15:57They actively change the shape of the coast from day to day.
16:02Here, the largest glaciers break off into the Atlantic Ocean.
16:07Visually, this place is full of beauty.
16:10But I knew we couldn't be naïve how fast the conditions can change for the worse.
16:50I'm just pinching myself because I know how rare it is to get this kind of weather.
16:57I'm just pinching myself because I know how rare it is to get this kind of weather.
17:06My friend Mumy, who is a local Icelandar, joined us for a small section.
17:11He said he'd been tracking our GPS.
17:14As an experienced guide and cyclist, I knew he was keen for an adventure.
17:20It always blows my mind how tough Icelanders are.
17:23And that he was eager to jump on a ride like this at a moment's notice.
17:30I don't think I've ever seen a whale this intact, washed up.
17:36This must have, like, just happened. This is wild.
17:45Being able to bond and grow closer with people through adventure is easily my favorite thing in the world.
17:50What's up, Stuart? You see this thing?
17:57There are a number of emergency shelters along the route that we hunkered down in.
18:01As I was planning the route, I had learned their fabled history.
18:04The remote emergency shelters are used as a sort of hut system that is designed to save you in case
18:10a shit hits the fan.
18:12The emergency shelters and the hut system really was designed specifically along the south coast,
18:17not for travelers or tourists, but for sailors,
18:20who over years and years of traveling here had lost their lives trying to get to the coastline,
18:24specifically the south coast, where putting your boat through some of these waves
18:28was absolutely the most dangerous thing you could ever do.
18:32Knowing the purpose of these huts, you understand clearly
18:35that you're submitting yourself to an area that human beings are just not meant to exist.
18:57The city has found a local who is as crazy as the route itself.
19:01He was eager to help them gain access to us.
19:04And he's going to drive us down here to the coast.
19:07And he knows the landscapes better than the back of his hand, so.
19:15it's probably good to get as close as we can to them just so we don't have to use the
19:20drones as much
19:22and it's about here the shipwreck there they are just on the bikes now so we better get moving
19:27if we want to catch them up there yeah yeah
19:50okay across the river but as soon as I'm up there it's really like a quicksand to get out of
19:56the river
19:57and with this wheels I might get stuck there
20:03okay love it let's give it a try all right
20:11nothing to it but not really a place where you want to get stuck
20:20against all odds Sigi and the crew were making it happen I honestly couldn't believe it
20:28yeah that was deep huh but their time with us was short-lived just a few hours we were on
20:35our own
20:35for the next section a series of seven big river crossings and we didn't know it was going to be
20:41one of the scariest parts of the trip for us this was the point that Moomy decided to part ways
20:51when you're out here in such an exposed place where the elements are so raw things can get serious really
21:04quick
21:05I really love this lighthouse so because we have a really good shelter
21:13I really love this lighthouse so because we have a really good shelter
21:28but the shelter was gone
21:33I soon realized it had been buried in eight feet of sand we were standing right on top of it
21:38I knew there was another shelter but it would require three more huge river crossings
21:46oh
22:08but it was one of the most gonna have to see us
22:22We did a crossing that if your doom wasn't there, I wouldn't have done it in a million years.
22:42We were all processing what we'd just gone through in our own ways.
22:47None of the crossings have been dangerous in any way at all, but that one had danger that I didn't
22:53like.
22:53Cam was pretty beat down.
22:55It was a long day. I'm feeling totally beat. My knee is a little jacked.
23:02We were destroyed that day, and that last crossing, it was a little too close for comfort.
23:07The wind and the water was just total chaos, and it could have been really bad.
23:13On top of all that, Cam's knee was pretty messed up.
23:19He was laboring over his decision whether to stay or drop out, because this was one of the only places
23:25that he could exit the trip safely.
23:28It was a bummer to see such a strong person and a friend leave the expedition, but we all knew
23:33it was the right decision.
23:47The hope of us all finishing together was lost.
23:50We did still have the Thorsau River in our sights, though. Doom and I pushed on.
24:14It's just right now a lot of black sand and some waves. There's a little shipwreck.
24:20We're scouting with the first drone. We always put up one scout drone, but they should be on their way.
24:40We're so beat. We're losing it.
24:52That's all.
24:53Whoa, that is so cool.
24:58You guys drove us out here.
25:02This is a friend who has a super jeep, and he's going to help us to access these more, I
25:08guess, remote places last few days of the trip.
25:11The Gypsy Queen
25:15Laid down in a shallow grave
25:19That she'd done for me
25:22Now I'm running home to you
25:28In the rising sun
25:31Till my feet go back in blue
25:42My good friend and pilot Arnar surprised me on the last day
25:45With a flyover in his Piper Cub
25:47It was an inspiring gesture
25:49Because it was with him just a few weeks earlier
25:51That I had scouted many of these rivers from his plane
25:57It's moments like this
25:58That make you realize why these kinds of expeditions are meaningful
26:02Here we were with nearly 300 miles
26:05The hardest sand riding in my life
26:06In close to 40 river crossings behind us
26:09With our final approach to the Thorsau River
26:11And a friend comes to wave you on
26:35It's just kind of cool to remind yourself at the end
26:38Like why it's significant, why it's important
26:40And why it's so beautiful
26:42And I'm trying to take it in
26:45And I think the coolest thing is that a lot of these rivers
26:50To me were once like so scary
26:52And they still really are, maybe more now
26:56But I understand them better
26:58And to navigate them is to know them
27:00To like love them I guess
27:02And that's really cool
27:02And you know I've flown over every single one of these
27:06For like the last 10 years
27:08And photographed them
27:09And that to be in them
27:10Is like
27:12Really significant
27:24Like abstract paintings
27:25Iceland's glacial rivers meet something profound in the human soul
27:29And experiencing them firsthand
27:31Has changed my perspective of the world around me
27:33It's hard to describe
27:35Or even sum it up in words
27:37So I won't even try
27:39My love for these rivers
27:41Has only continued to grow deeper with time
27:43And my hope is to share that beauty with others
27:46So that hopefully
27:48They will want to advocate for these wild places
27:50Just as much as I do
27:52You easy rider
27:56You daughter of my green
27:58But tell me what you see
28:00Tell me what you see
28:05Oh it's no use
28:07There's no excuse
28:10Your lover can lay
28:12Say you try
28:16Come and see me again
28:19Come on
28:20You easy rider
28:25You children of the sand
28:27Your homes and all the lines
28:29Your homes and all the lines
28:34Just go and find it
28:38You easy rider
28:41All you got to do is start
28:44Here we are
28:46Final
28:48Couple feet
28:49Of sand
28:51On our route
28:54The end
28:57I need to shave and a shower
29:00Yeah
29:00Yeah
29:02Come and see me again
29:06Come and see me again
29:10Come and see me again
29:13Come and see me again
29:13Come and see me again
29:13Come and see me again
29:14Come and see me again
29:14Come and see me again
29:15Come and see me again
29:17Come and see me again
29:19Come and see me again
29:21Come and see me again
29:29yeah absolutely it's done work is done it's over
30:00come on you easy rider you misbegot the sun take me what you learn
30:16then go on you easy rider all you got to do is start but that's the hardest part
30:29it's the heart's part
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