Jesse Huffman is a Vermont-based writer, photographer, and video producer
Ireland is tiny, packing as much landmass as the state of Indiana. Its trim national population is smaller than Turkmenistan’s. By the numbers it sorta makes sense. In person that all falls away.
Leading up to this 10 day trip, the plan was to road trip the western coastline south to north. I spent a lot of time scouting ahead on the internet, hoping to plot an ideal tour from the Killarney National Park and Kerry Peninsula, to the Dingle Peninsula, on to Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher, and then Letterfrack, midway up the west coast.
Some say the internet has blown out traveling’s natural element of surprise and discovery. But despite being inundated by photos and maps online, the moment we hit the trail in Killarney National Park, it became clear that this landscape remains immune to any digital attempts to capture and convey its diverse and boggling beauty.
We’d been given cryptic instructions by our Airbnb hosts—an extremely friendly and charming retired couple—to a “short walk” with a 360 degree prospect, just inside the park’s boundaries. After parking in the foothills, we wandered for a while, confused and unsure if we’d find the actual climb.
Down in the valley bottom, the lush biota was in full spring mode, the massive leaves, vines and mosses a mashup between the Pacific Northwest and somewhere tropical, like Hawaii. Ireland is way up in the northern latitudes (at the end of May, when we visited, the sun didn’t fully set until past 11:00 pm), but its position in the Gulf Stream often brings moderate and moist weather, fostering plant growth you’d otherwise expect to see nearer the equator.