Cotton Grass, Iceland

Photograph by Jennifer Jesse

This photograph was taken in July of 2010 while hiking in a region of Iceland called Landmannalaugar. People come to this area in order to see the colorful rhyolite mountains. During our trip we had come across small amounts of cotton grass along the roads, but I never expected to see such a huge field of it. This image represents what Iceland is all about. Just when you think the landscape can't surprise you anymore, something else even more amazing comes along.

(This photo and caption were submitted to the 2011 National Geographic Photography Contest .)