Prasanta Behera Blog

While waiting for my flight home, I wrote a poem inspired by the hike in Iceland.  Fire and Ice I wonder— Which came first, fire or ice? As I walk across the glacier, leaving footprints on ancient ice, an eerie silence surrounds me, broken only by the hiss of sulfur vents.   Arctic winds carry ash and whispers from the sleeping volcano beneath my feet. “Do not be fooled,” it says. “Before the ice, there was fire.” Then I think of us. Like this glacier, we carry old scars on the surface, while deep within, our hearts still burn. How often we hide our fire beneath a shell of ice— our hopes, our fears, our love, our grief. Perhaps we are shaped not by fire alone, nor by ice— but by the journey between them. As I walk away, my footprints will vanish. But beneath every frozen moment, I know fire still waits. Prasanta   July, 2026

Early last year, while sitting in a café in downtown Los Altos with a fellow hiker, I mentioned that I was planning a trip to Iceland. He immediately said, "If you're going, you must hike the Laugavegur Trail." That simple suggestion planted a seed. Soon, I convinced my neighbor and hiking partner, Ramesh, to join me, and we planned a ten-day Iceland adventure. Our spouses would explore Iceland's Golden Circle and Ring Road with us before we set off on the six-day Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls trek. Duration: 6 days Distance: ~70 miles (113 km) Highest Point: Fimmvörðuháls Pass (~1,000 m / 3,280 ft) Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous Best Time: July–August Highlights: Rhyolite mountains, glaciers, lava fields, volcanoes, river crossings, waterfalls Iceland is a land shaped by two powerful forces—fire and ice. Sitting atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it is one of the world's most volcanically active countries while also home to Europe's largest glacier....