Monkey (troll) bats and fjords

These paintings capture the true spirit of the North and its environment - the gloomy dusk robbed of sunlight early in the day by high cliffs and giant pillars, and the ubiquitous troll bats.

The Horns of the Emerald Valley

This is a painting of a puzzling rock formation protruding out of nowhere in the middle of the Emerald Valley. The Horns (and The Pillar Pile, in the background) are not sedimentary rock, nor do they have signs of erosion by wind or water. Maybe they were eroded long time before geologists think, and the landscape around them is a lot younger, making the Horns look out of place.

The perfect green flatness of the Emerald Valley's Braided Rivers

This is just a small gardening section of the lush and fertile Emerald Valley. This small field is located in the braided rivers section of the valley, between the rivers Yahalma and Glada.

The Yahalma Guardians, the pillars below are two of many that are so unique to the Island. The valley has only 5 of the famous pillars. These are natural, even though they appear as if built on purpose on both sides of a river branch that rejoins the Yahalma river that is seen in the foreground. Scientists have a tentative theory that a sudden cataclysmic draining of Glada's mountain lake (that was 600-900 meters deep in some places) sent catastrophic amounts of water scouring the paths of the river, carving a new landscape out of mountains nearby and in the Valley.


Further north, the mountains that separate the Valley from the Atlantic ocean, encroach on the braided rivers area. Though the rivers and their branches are shallow, nevertheless there is moderate shipping to be found, mainly for transporting tourists and the Valley's agricultural products. After a major rain the rivers become loaded with silt, as seen here. The minibarges are tied up at many of the shoals in the braided rivers.


This is the pristine look of the untouched braided rivers section. Actually, the islands are used to grow nut trees.

There is another spectacular view of the valley and its braided rivers here.

The Northern Gates Fjord

This is how Northurgatten Fjord looked like 200 years ago. The huge, tall pillars, become successively taller further inland. The deceptively warm but foggy air disguises distances. The picturesque views of natural arches distracts any first-time skipper making his way through the waters, and the unexpected turns in the short, S-shaped fjord became the best defense for the city of Waldihnok. Many treacherous rocks have been cleared, though the famous rule is still in force for modern-day pilots and captains: keep your eyes on the water.

The Crystal Temple

I enjoyed my day-long visit to the Crystal Temple. Located at the end of the Three Giants Fjord, the Crystal Temple was originally dedicated to the queen Linga, in order to consecrate the mountain crystal found in the nearby mountains by making a nearly 15 foot (about 5 meter) statue made of the pink-orange kryptonite-rich crystal.


The Temple was long been damaged and the statue of the Queen destroyed and made into smaller crystal pieces, but there was enough left of the columns (with capitals typical of the Attland architecture) to restore the temple to its former beauty, and install a 10-meter centerpiece sculpture made of thousands of cyalith- and kryptonite-rich crystal pieces. The crystal balls are close approximations of the crystal lanterns, as described in the Queen Linga Chronologies found in her famous Sky Temple and Mausoleum.

Since the 14-mile long Three Giants Fjord is located on a mountainous, inaccessible stretch of the north shores, the only way to reach the temple is by a seaplane, helicopter or a hydrofoil service from Waldihnok.

Near the Crystal Temple there is a guest center and crystal factory outlet, where they sell almost anything made of the crystal - night lights, torchier lamps, chandeliers, watches, jewelry, etc. Further up the mountainside there is a Crystal hotel whose lobby closely reproduces the beauty of the temple's main hall.

The Three Giants are one of the tallest pillars peculiar to the island. These three pillars are 534, 869, and 1023 meters tall, from the nearest to the farthest.

Intro to the pillars

Offshore the eastern half of the northern coast is dotted with these pillars. The pillars are not a product of erosion, and they do not have the horizontal stratification so typical of stacks and pillars throughout the world. The structure rather suggests a fast and recent extrusion as part of a geological uplift.

There are more than 1,300 pillars on or off the island. Here are the pillar statistics:
60% of the pillars are offshore
20% of the pillars are located on the coast or close to the sea.
85% of the pillars average 400-600 m. high, 20 m. wide, and less than 200 sq. m. on top
1 pillar has an area of 2 square miles, and it is the most distant from the island
205 pillars have been settled by carving or construction of residences into or on the pillars themselves
146 pillars are more than 800 m. high
12 pillars are slimmest - only 4m. wide and over 110 m. tall