photo Brody Leven, brodyleven.comlocation Dynjandi, Iceland

I call it my redemption trip.

During my month-long visit in 2013, I barely saw the sun over Iceland. I hoped this wouldn't happen to Alyssa Larson and I during our summertime trip to the sub-arctic.

Iceland is no hidden travel secret to my generation. Yet most of the visitors tend to head to the same well-trodden (but breathtaking) locations. With a 2wd rental car and lots of time, energy, and flexibility at our disposal, we drove and explored every inch of the island's coastline. And while the popular "Ring Road" is only 800km of paved road, we traveled over 4000km of unpopular dirt roads.
Oh, and we climbed and skied throughout remote fjords and from the summit of both the most active volcano and the highest mountain in the country.
Success: we camped somewhere different every night for 47 nights.