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The Forgotten Coast
Transcript
00:25How's the day?
00:30We did a crossing that 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
01:16next decade capturing and documenting their beauty from the sky.
01:25It wasn't until about two years ago that I was driving back from Iceland's east fjords
01:29that the idea finally hit.
01:32Would it be possible to cross this remote stretch of coast on my bike, unsupported, in order
01:38to get up close 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
01:52how to raft, the key ingredient to this crazy expedition.
01:56The obstacles to do this were massive.
01:58But like most things with me, once the idea is planted in my head, it's pretty hard to
02:03get 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.
02:44I think I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight because I'm going to be thinking about
02:46it 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.
02:59And the environment is extremely dangerous.
03:02Atlantic storms have claimed countless ships and sailors' lives along the southern coast
03:06of Iceland.
03:08After hearing so much about the shipwrecks and deaths here, it was easily the most daunting
03:12part 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.
03:22While I had done many bike expeditions in harsh conditions, doing something like this seemed
03:27nearly impossible and terrifying.
03:31So I reached out to the one person who had the experience to tackle something just like
03:35this, Steve Fassbender, aka Doom.
03:40In some way, riding with Doom was something I've always dreamt of.
03:43A rite of passage, basically.
03:44You 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.
04:05Endless.
04:07This guy has packed his bike in every way possible.
04:10Even on the back of a llama.
04:13Cam, how we feeling, buddy?
04:14Good.
04:16You guys ready?
04:17Yeah.
04:19Also joining us would be Cameron Lawson.
04:21A legend in his own right.
04:23An adventure photographer and Alaskan bush pilot who had some bike grafting 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 wait for it.
04:54Start of 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.
05:10Siggy 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.
05:23We 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.
05:43Vik, a quaint town along a long stretch of black sand beach.
05:48And ultimately culminating in the crown jewel, the Thorsau River.
05:52Many of the rivers we'd be crossing were gems in their own right, cutting and winding their way through stunning
05:57landscapes and showing off strands and fans of glacial sediment.
06:01But of all the rivers, the Thorsau River stands out without question.
06:06It's Iceland's biggest river, and 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 our very long route.
06:25But with so many dangerous river crossings between here and there, I wasn't actually sure we'd make it to the
06:30Thorsau at all.
06:39So what is bike rafting?
06:44Essentially, it's the process of packing an inflatable raft on your bike to 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, send it over waterfalls, or whatever you need to do.
07:13We're about to attempt our first crossing.
07:18In our case, we use the pack raft as a tool to explore and move through these massive river systems
07:23and other bodies of water.
07:25Some being 30 feet across, some being thousands of feet across.
07:28Some are rocky, some 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, are 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, and 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, but when you start to do it, it becomes complicated fast.
08:14When you're thinking about crossing 41 rivers, you're basically inflating and deflating that raft and breaking down your bike 82
08:21times.
08:22It eats up so much time, and you're just subjecting your bike and all the pieces of it to salt
08:26water 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.
08:54This 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.
09:04Not too good.
09:05Yeah, so we got Doom here.
09:08Master mechanic.
09:20This 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.
10:01Full of hot air.
10:03Full of hot air.
10:26Oh my God!
10:28This is incredible!
10:31Woo!
10:33This is incredible!
10:36This is incredible!
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
11:10and find areas where 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
11:30that's guarded by farmers who are protective and wary of tourists.
11:34We just arrived to Hotel Schmirtleburg.
11:36They told us we could grab a cup of coffee here.
11:39And we're also going to ask them about roads that lead down to the shore here.
11:45Well, this road will definitely get us part of the way down.
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
12:10and we're trying to get there to meet them.
12:12But we're not sure if we can.
12:13The road's all kind of underwater and the sand could be soft.
12:18Day three.
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 flash, flash.
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
12:54that has a truck capable of taking us down to the shore.
12:58Because it's...
12:59Yeah.
13:00It's not a good road down there.
13:22The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the ride.
13:27Our heads had to be in the moment because the upcoming section
13:30was going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:33The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the road.
13:34The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the road.
13:40The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the road.
13:48The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the road.
13:52The film crew was on their own and our focus was on the road.
13:54The film crew was on the road.
13:54The film crew was on the road.
13:54The film crew was on the road.
13:55The film crew was on the road.
13:57The film crew was on the road.
13:57The film crew was on the road.
14:02The film crew was on the road.
14:03The Iceland's glacier river 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 wild 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.
14:50But the colors, contrast and textures seem to open a window into another world.
14:57The ocean of sly and the glacier was mostly in the sand but some branches of the riverbeds,
15:01and mingled again.
15:02The ocean.
15:02The ocean.
15:06The ocean.
15:09The ocean.
15:18The ocean.
15:21The ocean.
15:28We had just made our most challenging crossing, and 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.
15:58They 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, but I knew we couldn't be naive how fast the conditions
16:12can change for the worse.
16:17So, do you think that, you know, you're looking pretty sad?
16:18No.
16:26No.
16:37No.
16:38No.
16:39No.
16:39No.
16:40No.
16:42No.
16:50Just pinching myself because I know how rare it is to get this kind of weather.
17:06My friend Mumy, who is a local Eisner, 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 Eisner's are.
17:23And then 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.
17:35This 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.
17:51So stupid. 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.
18:05The 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 who, over years and years of traveling here,
18:22had lost their lives trying to get to the coastline, specifically the south coast,
18:26where putting your boat through some of these waves was absolutely the most dangerous thing you could ever do.
18:32Knowing the purpose of these huts, you understand clearly that you're submitting yourself to an area that human beings are
18:39just not meant to exist.
18:58Sigi had found a local who was as crazy as the route itself. He was eager to help them gain
19:03access to us.
19:03And he's going to drive us down here to the coast, and he knows the landscapes better than the back
19:11of his hands, 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.
19:24They are just on the bikes now, so we better get moving if we want to catch them up there.
19:29Yeah, 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 these wheels I might get stuck there.
20:03Okay.
20:04Love it.
20:04Let's give it a try.
20:06All right.
20:07Yeah.
20:10Fantastic.
20:12Nothing to it.
20:13But not really a place where you won't get stuck.
20:15Dang.
20:17Easy for you.
20:20Against all odds, Sigi and the crew were making it happen.
20:24I honestly couldn't believe it.
20:28Yeah, that was deep, huh?
20:31But their time with us was short-lived.
20:33Just a few hours.
20:35We were on our own for the next section.
20:36A series of seven big river crossings.
20:39And we didn't know it was going to be one of the scariest parts of the trip for us.
20:43This 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
20:57quick.
21:05I don't really hope this lighthouse is so good because we have a really good shelter.
21:13We've got to run a little line.
21:21After hours of riding and being beaten down by the elements, we finally made it to the lighthouse.
21:28But the shelter was gone.
21:33We soon realized it had been buried in eight feet of sand.
21:36We were standing right on top of it.
21:38I knew there was another shelter.
21:40But it would require three more huge river crossings.
22:20That's pretty fucked up.
22:21Yeah.
22:23We did a crossing that, like, if your doom wasn't there, I wouldn't have it done in three years.
22:42We were all processing what we'd just gone through in our own ways.
22:45It was not fun.
22:45It was fucked.
22:46Yeah.
22:47None of the crossings have been dangerous in any way at all.
22:50But that one had danger that I didn't like.
22:53Cam was pretty beat down.
22:55It was a long day.
22:57I'm feeling totally beat.
22:59He is a little jacked.
23:02We were destroyed that day.
23:04And that last crossing, it was a little too close for comfort.
23:07The wind and the water was just total chaos.
23:10And it could have been really bad.
23:12On top of all that, Cam's knee was pretty messed up.
23:19He was laboring over his decision whether to stay or drop out.
23:23Because this was one of the only places that he could exit the trip safely.
23:28It was a bummer to see such a strong person and a friend leave the expedition.
23:32But we all knew it was the right decision.
23:47The hope of us all finishing together was lost.
23:50We did still have the Thorsal River in our sights though.
23:53Doom and I pushed on.
23:54Doom and Japan
24:11Sweeping
24:13Hier claims weren't those a stick.
24:14Just right now a lot of black sand and some waves.
24:18There's a little shipwreck.
24:20we're scouting with the first drone almost put up like one scout drone but
24:24they should be on their way
24:40we're so beat we're losing it
24:54that's so cool
24:56he drove us out here
25:02he's a friend who has a super jeep
25:05and he's gonna help us to access these more
25:08I guess remote places last few days of the trip
25:15I laid down in a shallow grave
25:19a sheath dove for me
25:23now I'm running home to you
25:28in the rising sun
25:31till my feet go back in blue
25:37oh I will run
25:42my good friend and pilot Arnar surprised me on the last day with a flyover in his Piper Cub
25:47it was an inspiring gesture because it was with him just a few weeks earlier that I had scouted many
25:52of these rivers from his plane
25:54oh yes
25:56so awesome
25:57it's moments like this that make you realize why these kinds of expeditions are meaningful
26:02here we were with nearly 300 miles of the hardest sand riding in my life
26:07in 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 like remind yourself at the end
26:38like why it's significant, why it's important, why it's so beautiful
26:42and I'm trying to like take it in
26:46I 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
27:03and you know I've flown over every single one of these for like the last 10 years
27:08and photographed them and now to be in them is like really significant
27:24like abstract paintings
27:25Iceland's glacial rivers meet something profound in the human soul
27:30and experiencing them firsthand has changed my perspective of the world around me
27:34it's hard to describe or even sum it up in words
27:37so I won't even try
27:40my love for these rivers has only continued to grow deeper with time
27:44and my hope is to share that beauty with others
27:47so that hopefully they 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
28:24you children of the sand
28:27your homes and all the lines
28:29your homes and all the lines
28:34just go and find it
28:36you easy rider
28:44here we are
28:46final
28:48couple feet
28:49of sand
28:51on our route
28:54the end
28:57well
28:58I need to shave and a shower
29:00yeah yeah
29:22it was the company that made it sick you know
29:25like you would never want to do that alone
29:26it's just so lame
29:27that's like
29:28that's why you do these things
29:29yeah absolutely
29:31it's done
29:32work is done
29:34it's over
30:00come on
30:02you easy rider
30:06you misbegotten
30:10take me what you've done
30:12take me what you've done
30:17then go on
30:19you easy rider
30:24all you have to do is start
30:27but now it's the hardest part
30:29it's the hardest part
30:39you are
30:40you
30:41you
30:42you
30:42you
30:42you
30:42you
30:43You
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