Asbyrgi Canyon

Ásbyrgi is a vast horseshoe-shaped canyon at the northern edge of Vatnajökull National Park in North Iceland. Sheer cliffs curve around a floor of unexpectedly lush birch and willow woodland, with a still pond beneath the tallest wall. Icelandic legend calls it the hoofprint of Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir; geologists credit catastrophic glacial floods after the Ice Age. Sheltered, green and quiet, it anchors the Diamond Circle in the north.