Iceland: Will the Wind Just Stop Already!!!!

 From Monday, September 27 and Tuesday, September 28th

When I started out from Akureyri on Monday morning, my plan had been to snake in and out a few fjords, take a few pictures, and hopefully see some seals.  Well, that plan changed a bit suddenly when it turned out that while it was no longer raining, it was snowing instead.  That meant visibility wasn’t great and some of the things I had on my list to stop and see probably wouldn’t be visible. So instead of going around one of the peninsulas, I decied to cut through a pass.  This wasn’t the best idea, because it turns out it went through the mountains and the snow was even worse up there.  But it wasn’t like I could really turn around by the time it got bad, so I just kept going, veeeeery slowly.  I eventually made it out the other side.  I’m sure some of the AWD vehicles were wondering what in the world I was doing up there, but all the roads up in that area had shown as clear when I started out that morning.

A picture of two rivers joining up...taken before the snow hit me on Monday.

Anyways, with all the plans thrown to the winds, I arrived in Blonduos really early.  Like, 1:20 early.  That had been where I planned to stop for the night, but I had expected it to be more like 4, with me stopping a bunch and taking the long way around.  Well, that just seemed too early and it didn’t seem likely that things would be much better if I waited so I decided to keep on moving.  Okay, my next plan was to stop for the night in Hvammstangi, but the campsite there didn’t really seem open and it was still only like 2:30.  So I pushed onward some more.

I eventually pushed all the way down to Borgarnes.  If you look at a map of Iceland, that basically means I covered about a quarter of the ring road in one day.  Shortly before reaching Borgarnes though, I did come across a neat crater to stop and hike up.  It was extremely windy up to the crater rim, but it wasn’t snowy.  There also seems to be some sort of old either animal pens or foundations for a house.  Their signage is really quite good here, but it never mentioned what the stone walls were for.

Picture is a bit blurry, but that's because it was so darn windy out there that
I couldn't get a good picture.

So I settled down for the night in Borgarnes, and got to catch a nice sunset over an inlet of a fjord.  The inlet was frozen...winter is settling in to Iceland.  

Sunset at the campground in Borgarnes.

When I woke up on Tuesday morning, my plan was to tackle the Snaefells Peninsula.  I was up and on the road by 8:30 because I had a lot to see.  An hour into my drive I was hitting heavy winds and snow and then I hit one of their boards that displays road conditions.  The part I can read is wind speed, temperature, and wind gusts.  For the road I was planning to take it was saying winds at 14 m/s (31 mph) and gusting to 24 m/s (53 mph).  This sounded like a repeat of when I was on the southeast side of the island.  I decied to turn around and head inland, away from the ocean instead. 

That certainly did help the winds.  The snow stopped for a while, but then started back up as I was getting close to the two waterfalls I was on my way to: Barnafoss and Hraunfossar.  The snow does make things prettier, but it also makes things a bit difficult when it is blowing sideways.  It is rather hard to see at that point.  I made my way up to Barnafoss first.  You couldn’t really see a waterfall, but more water rushing through a narrow canyon at high speeds.  I really liked it.  Then I made my way over to Hraunfossar which was one waterfall with multiple falls, it is hard to decide how word that.  Curtain doesn’t seem right.  It was a waterfall I had seen on a few postcards (that I purchased).  There are so many waterfalls here in Iceland that I couldn’t remember if the ones on the postcards I got were on my list to see, but I did!

If you can see through the snow...Hraunfossar

From Barnafoss/Hraunfossar, I made my way down to Glymur.  It was still snowing, but perhaps a little more lightly.  At least the day seemed a little brighter. When I got to the parking lot I pulled on my rainpants and raincoat over a few layers of clothing.  The snow was a bit wet so it seemed like the best option.  I set out on the trail and reached an overlook.  I could see the water raging below, pretty and clear.  The sign said Glymur to the right, but I couldn’t find a trail down.  I did find a trail, and followed it, but it didn’t seem right.  I’m not sure how far down that trail I went, a mile maybe?  I finally decided to turn around and head back because it didn’t seem right.  I wandered around near the sign and finally noticed some steps down, literally 3 feet to the right of the sign.  I went down and through into a little cave that created the perfect picture frame for the scenery below.  I continued down to the river and followed it up to where there was a river crossing.  And when I say river crossing, I mean, your feet are going in the river and you will be wading through near freezing water for 30 feet to cross to the other side while holding onto a cable.  This was one of those times where if I was with someone else I probably would have gone.  But crossing a river by myself when I wasn’t sure if there was anyone else around just didn’t seem like a great idea, so I turned around with dry feet.

River coming down from Glymur.

I drove on to Akranes for the night and the wind is blowing like crazy here too.  I’m sure I’ve experienced plenty of wind in Kansas like this, but it is different when you’re inside a van for the night, instead of a solid house.  Currently winds are blowing at around 18 m/s (40 mph) and I’m literally about 30 feet from the ocean.  Pretty view, would be nice if it wasn’t so windy though.  It’s supposed to calm down a little bit later tonight.  Like 2-3 am.  Not sure what I’m doing tomorrow.  I guess we’ll see what the weather decides I’m doing tomorrow.

Iceland: I Went Down a Waterslide in Iceland!

 From Saturday, September 25 and Sunday, September 26

Originally the plan had called for me to be in Husavik at 9:30 am for a whale watching tour, but on Friday I received an email saying that due to expected high waves in the bay on Saturday they had canceled all tours out of Husavik (seems to be a theme)...but that they would be doing tours out of Hjalteyri instead.  That worked out alright for me in the end.

Husavik

I still went to Husavik because I had to.  It is a cute little town (or big one by Iceland standards).  I went to the Husavik Whale Museum while there and spent probably a good 2 hours inside.  The museum has a load of different whale skeletons from various types of whales that either were stranded or died and washed ashore in places around Iceland.  They even have a blue whale skeleton.  The rib cage for it was probably about 2-3 feet taller than me!  I learned about all sorts of whales that are found around Iceland often, sometimes, or rarely.  

A Real Live (Dead) Blue Whale Skeleton

After the Whale Museum, I went to get more fuel, only to find out my gas cap was stuck.  I still had about half a tank, but the fact I couldn’t get to put gas in put me on edge.  I tried a couple of times throughout the day, but haven’t had any luck.  I emailed the rental place and they said to see if I can find some WD-40 or something at a gas station, see if that helps.  Or else I’ll have to wait Sunday out in Akureryi until Monday morning when the car shops open up.  The good news is I am in Akureryi, which is the 2nd largest metro area in Iceland.  It means that there is a Renault dealer who might be able to help, and things to do to keep me entertained.

But before I got to Akureryi, I stopped by Godafoss, another waterfall.  This one was a short one.  No crazy uphill hikes this time.  It is a nice little waterfall.  Story has it that it got its name when the lead lawmaker in Iceland threw his pagan god figurines into the water after the country decided to switch to Christianity.  This was his way of saying, I’m done with them!

Godafoss

Well, I’m in Akureryi for at least one night.  We’ll see what happens with the gas cap tomorrow.  But first thing in the morning is a whale watching tour.

Yep, that's me.  Put in contacts since it was sort of spitting out and I wanted to be able to see the whales.

And that whale watching tour delivered!  We saw 2 different whales while out for 2 hours.  We spent probably and hour with one alone and it kept coming up to the surface for a little bit, and then would dive back down.  No glorious breaches because this is feeding time, not impressing the mates time.  It was cold and a bit rainy, but it could have been worse, or canceled and I’m so glad it wasn’t because that would have been the second thing canceled on me.  But thank goodness for the thick coveralls and large raincoats.  I had like 4 layers on underneath and with those additional layers everything was warm enough (except my feet which got a bit cold).

One of two Humpback Whales we saw.

After the tour I headed back into town.  One thing I had planned to do today was a bit of shopping for holiday gifts, but I momentarily forgot that it was Sunday, and that meant that all, but 2 or 3 shops were closed.  I decided to hold off until I reached Reykjavik before shopping.But the good news everyone!!!  I got my gas cap off!  I bought a can of WD-40, sprayed down my key and the inside of the lock and without too much work, it jiggled free!  Thank goodness!  That means first thing tomorrow I can be on the road again!  Because in the end I decided to spend one more night here.  It was about 2:30 by the time I got the gas cap thing figured out so after a trip into a cafe with wifi, and checking out the weather, I decided to wait until tomorrow to leave.  The things I want to visit between here and my next stop would be a lot more enjoyable if it wasn’t raining, and it is supposed to clear up tomorrow.  So that left me trying to figure out what to do next.I settled on going to the public swimming pool.  Nearly every Icelandic town of significance has a swimming pool.  Akureryi’s is amazing.  The water is naturally heated, but filtered.  They had 8 different pools ranging from about 35 C to 41 C, plus one that hovered somewhere between 5 and 12 C...I did not visit that one.  They had a lap pool, a large pool for playing that was not cold, but not hot either.  There were 5 hot tubs of varying hotness.  There were also two 3 story waterslides that had an enclosed set of stairs up to them.  I did go down one of them once.  There were actually a ton of adults having fun on the slides.  There was also a smaller 1 story slide.  Besides the nice warm water in the pools, one of my reasons for going to the pool was a nice hot shower.  The campground I’m at seems to only have lukewarm showers which is very disappointing.  The thing about showering here at pools (both Myvatn and the public pool) is you are expected to shower nude and there are no curtains.  It’s just open.  Let’s just say I’ve never done that before.  I know Americans are considered rather prude in that sense, so for me it was a new experience, but it doesn’t phase the locals or most of the other Europeans at all.

Iceland: This Country is Magical in a Light Snow

 From Friday, September 24

Today I went all around Myvatn, which is actually the name of the lake.  There is a bunch to see around here thanks to geothermal and volcanic activity.  

I started out the morning (in the snow) at Skutustadagigar, which is a weird grouping of psuedocraters.  They were formed when lava flows over a wetlands area.  What results is a bunch of craters popping up that aren’t actually connected to any thermal vents or magma chambers or anything like that.  They’re a bit otherworldly, but so is a lot in this area.

Pseudocraters

My second visit of the morning was to Dimmuborgir.  This was a neat area with a bunch of large lava formations.  It had a sort of magical feel to it.  Probably because it was snowing, but also in Icelandic folklore it is the home of the Yule Lads.  The Yule Lads are a bit mischievous and over 13 days in December in the lead-up to Christmas each one (there are 13) causes a specific sort of mischief, usually of the good sort (leaving a small gift for children, or a potato if they’ve been bad).  They then depart one each day after Christmas.  Wandering the trail through all the formations was fun.  There is one place that is called the Kirkjan (church), which is a large rock formation with a large cavern to it.  This trail was more just walking and less hiking, which was a nice change.

Area known as Kirkjan at Dimmuborgir

About the time the snow stopped falling, I was heading to the parking lot to hike up Hverfjall.  I thought Hverfjall was a volcano driving up to it because that is what it looked like.  Turns out it’s not quite what it is.  It is, but isn’t.  Its resulting shape comes from magma and water coming into contact.  Like every other thing I’ve climbed in the past week, it was a straight shot up the side of the crater, which I believe was said to be around 300 feet.  Then you could walk around the entire crater which was roughly 2 miles.  You could see a lot from up there, especially as it started to clear up and brighten up.

Trylla was mad that I forgot to take him to Dimmuborgir, but his face perked up when
I let him come up Hverfjall with me.

Up next was a quick stop at Grjotagja.  This is a neat little cave with water in it.  Once upon a time, people used it as a swimming pool.  And then in the 1970s volcanic activity locally caused some crack to open up, it seems, because the pool suddenly jumped to 60 C which is way to hot for swimming.  But it makes for a cool looking quick stop.

Grotagja

Up next was a trip to Krafla, which didn’t quite go as planned.  I took the road to Krafla and as I neared the geothermal power plant the road became a lot more slushy, and eventually shortly past the power plant, and 2km from my destination, it became impassible, unless you had an AWD vehicle (which I don’t).  But a lot of people seemed to say, “I don’t care, I’m going up there anyway.”  Cars were parked in the right lane, leaving the left lane for cars to leave.  People hiked up the road to get to Krafla and Viti (a filled in volcanic crater lake).  It was another 300 or so foot climb up the road on snow, but I made it up there.  I think my legs are resigned to the fact I’m doing a lot of uphill hiking and have just given in.  They’re not nearly so tired doing so now as they were a few days ago.  I got up to Viti, which was neat, but a little underwhelming just because I felt I needed more after all the work I put into it.  Krafla was looking down on us.  I was definitely not hiking up there in the snow today.  

Viti right behind, and Krafla in the back...and a hint of "I walked 2 km uphill in the snow for this?"

From there it was to Hverir, which was another geothermal area.  This one was probably the smelliest of the 3 I’ve visited here in Iceland.  It lacked the geyers, hot pools, and mud pots, and was mostly just gasy vents.  While the steam venting out makes for a neat look, it wasn’t nearly as good as the other two places I had been with geothermal activity.

I finished my evening at the Myvatn Nature Baths.  They’re a man-made set of hot pools for tourists and I’m an exhausted tourist, so I enjoyed it.  Expensive, yes (roughly $45).  But it was a good two hours of relaxation in warm water, outside, with a nice view.  And seeing as how really I haven’t spent a ton of money on things since arriving, it was worth it.

Myvatn Nature Baths

Iceland: Sir, You Have a Goat On Your Roof

 From Wednesday, September 22 and Thursday, September 23

 Two days for this post.  

 On Wednesday morning I set out from Hofn (again).  This time I could see a lot more and wasn’t fighting anything.  In the end, I’m glad I hadn’t pushed through (even though emergency services wouldn’t let me) because I would have missed out on so much prettiness.  The day was almost clear and sunny, just about the opposite of a day earlier.  The Ring Road runs right along the coast for much of what drove for the day.  First it was pretty much right along the ocean, and then it was in and out of a bunch of fjords.  Really what I have for the day is a bunch of pretty pictures, which is why I didn’t do a post for just the one day.  So you get a few pretty pictures.

Some very lucky Icelandic horses with a great view!

This is where I was when I was forced to turn around the day before.  The waves on the
ocean to the right were humongous!  And the wind was outrageous!

Just one of the many views I would have missed had I drove this stretch the day
before in the horrible weather.

 One actual activity I did for the day was driving along Lagarfljot, which is a lake with its own Loch Ness type monster.  It’s been seen 5 times since the late 1800s. 4 times in the last half century.  I did not see it as I drop alongside Lagarfljot.  After I crossed Lagarfljot, I got to the parking lot for the hike up to see Hengifoss.  Really it was two waterfalls.  Hengifoss was the higher one, but Litlanesfoss was pretty neat itself.  This hike was really quite straight up.  832 feet in about 1.4 miles.  

Litlanesfoss - with the basalt columns like Svartifoss

Hengifoss - the neat striping pattern with the red has to do with lava flow, then nothing for a while allowing the top layer to turn more to soil, then more lava and so on.

 I spent the night in Egilsstadir.  Still no northern lights.

In the morning I got put together and hit the road.  At the last minute I opted out of going to see another fjord.  Like the other days, I’ve had a few things I wanted to see, but then just stopped or turned off if I saw something that interested me.  Or sometimes I turned off and had no clue what I was heading towards.  But that’s the joy in this type of trip.  It wasn’t too long after I got started that I started see a bit of snow on the ground.  The sort of snow that looked like it had appeared within the past 24 hours.  Then I saw more of it, and some mountains covered in snow too.  These snow covered mountains were not in glacial areas, so their snow is actually snow.

Snow! Snjor!

 At an information stop (boards with some pictures and info of the region), I saw a board about a sod house.  Sod houses are what many Icelanders used for centuries because of the lack of wood in the area.  I was curious so I took a turn and headed off to find Bustarfell.  This was a sod house that goes back to the 1770s.  While no one has lived in it for the past 50 years, the same family whose ancestors builts it in the 18th century, have kept it up as a museum.  Since it is not summer, it wasn’t open, but I could still take a look around the outside of it.  And I found goats...on the roof...just bleeting at me.  But this house was really quite impressive.  It apparently had 3 kitchens and obviously looks like it could house multiple generations.

Bustarfell Sod House

From there I made my way to Dettifoss; one of the most powerful waterfalls in the country.  It was also a two-for-one waterfall special because I was also able to walk a little further and see Selfoss.  The two waterfalls, despite only being about a kilometer apart, were very different.  Selfoss was much shorter and a sort of wrap-around curtain style.  Dettifoss was another off-angle falls that somehow had so much more power than Selfoss did.

Dettifoss

 And then because my map showed more waterfalls if I turned right, I decided to see if I could see more.  But it soon became apparent I was too far from the river.  But just 5 km pass the turnoff to Dettifoss was what appeared to be a brand new road, which lead to a brand new parking lot, which led to a brand new trail, which led to a view down into the gorge where another waterfall was located.  And I had it all to myself for the whole 20 minutes or so that I was there.  I’m not really sure which waterfall that was that I was seeing.  I just know I saw a neat one.

The surprise falls that I don't have a name for just downstream of Dettifoss.

 I’ll be camped out in Myvatn for the next two nights.  Lots to do in the area so I figured I stay here both nights.  It’s snowing outside right now.  It is also currently 1C outside and wind is at 8m/s.  Inside I have my heater going and it’s not too bad.

Iceland: The Day I Didn't Die

 From Tuesday, September 21

Turns out I did my math correctly.  Currently gusting to 71 mph in Hofn, where I am at the moment.  What a day it’s been.  I’m beyond exhausted.

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

This morning I got up early because I was supposed to be at Jokulsarlon Lagoon at 9:30.  It looked like it should take about 50 minutes, but I didn’t want to be late, so I got up and headed straight there, with the plan to cook breakfast when I arrived at the lagoon.  By the time 9:00 rolled around it was raining pretty good, and was pretty windy.  About 9:20, a guy from the company showed up.  Kayak tour was cancelled due to weather, and due to the fact weather wasn’t supposed to be great in the area the next couple of days either, they weren’t rebooking.  Bummer.  This was the ONE thing I had booked pre-trip.  My plan for the day had been just the kayak tour, and walking up and down Diamond Beach, plus the 200 or so kilometers to where I planned to spend the night.  I did walk out to Diamond Beach and spent about 5 minutes there.  Overall what a disappointing morning, because it could have been such a fantastic time on another day that wasn’t weather crazy.

Diamond Beach - Named for the ice pieces that end up on the beach.

I made it to Hofn around lunchtime.  Not that it really means anything, because I really don’t stop for lunch.  It is just a good time marker.  I refueled my van and drove around town.  During WWII the Allies had a base here.  It was a good place for refueling planes, plus allowed them to keep an eye on the seas.  I can’t imagine they saw too much up here.  It is also historically an important fishing town.  There is a certain fishy smell down here.  It could have been because it was obviously low tide, or maybe there is a fish market that I missed.  

Hofn

I then headed out of town toward Djupivogur, where I intended to spend the night.  I could tell it was windy outside because of the grass to the side of the road, but I didn’t feel it much (obviously it was going in the same direction as me).  Much of the Ring Road at this point is right on the edge of the land.  There is maybe a quarter mile wide area in some places between the cliffs and the ocean.  Just as I was pulling out of the gas station in Hofn, I saw a police car go speeding out of town.  I didn’t think anything of it.  7km outside of town there is a tunnel.  As I was passing through the tunnel, an ambulance passed by me.  Another 15 km or so down the road an off-roading emergency vehicle passed me.  Man, there must be an accident up here somewhere.  A few minutes later a fire truck passes me.  Wow, wonder when I’ll come across whatever it is?  I could see the ocean was looking pretty nasty.  Huge waves, dangerous waves.  Probably at least 20 feet high.  ThenI come around a bend where the road goes from heading east to north. The wind hit me immediately and jerked my van.  My heart raced.  And I dropped my speed down about 15 kph (4mph).  I was crawling and the wind would hit me and speed me up.  I think at that point I didn’t really know what to do.  But then a decision was made for me, thank goodness!  The fire truck that passed me told drove (very slowly) straight at me and then pulled up next to me and said the road was closed.  He told me to turn around and he would follow behind me.  There were two other vans in front of me that had been turned around too.  Then the off-road emergency vehicle made an appearance (I’m not sure where he was hiding) and started following behind too.  We hit two other cars that were turning around.  Eventually I passed one of the vans (the other one was behind me) because she was going at 30kph and I thought I could deal with 40-50.  I slowly made my way back to Hofn, because the wind was bad going back.  I was so stressed.  Every once in a while a big gust would come.  I was driving down the middle of the road because I figured there was no way a gust could blow me that far off the road, and it was obvious that there were no more cars coming to worry about.  When I made it back to the tunnel I knew I was getting close.  It didn’t get any better after passing through though.  Obviously the wind had picked up since I left.  Then I see an emergency vehicle sitting sideways across the road and I knew I was almost to the turnoff into Hofn.  I started crying because I was absolutely exhausted and shaking and scared and relieved.  I had passed the campsite earlier so I knew where it was, pulled in around 4 and checked in for the night.  I can’t imagine I’m going to get much sleep tonight because the wind isn’t supposed to drop below 20 m/s (45 mph) until midnight, and it isn’t going to be below 10 m/s (22 mph) until 6am tomorrow.  By 9 it should be back in the 4-8 m/s range. So Today is the day I didn't die. Thank goodness! And I got an outlet in the camp common space so I could recharge everything.

Iceland: Definitely Not in Kilimanjaro Shape These Days

 From Monday, September 20

I’ve come to the conclusion that if the words “Krystina” and “camping” come together, they come together along with the word “rain”.  Growing up, the few times we went camping it seemed like we got rained on.  On Kilimanjaro we got rained on A LOT...almost every night.  And here in Iceland, I may be inside a van, but it still has rained every night.  I’m so glad I’m not tent camping.  I think I’ve found my type of camping and it involves a campervan with a heater.  I don’t have to worry about the rain or the wind.  And boy was it windy last night.  So much wind!  I’m sure being in the wind amplifies it a bit, kind of like the rain sounds worse that it really is much of the time, but still, it is windy down here on the south coast.  They’re saying winds tomorrow could hit 15-20 m/s (who measures wind speed in something that you can’t easily go, “ah yes, that’s fast”.  Measure wind in kph!), which I guess is 54-72 kph if I did my math correctly.

But what about today, Krystina?

Well, I started my day in Vik.  It as cold and windy/rainy so I just chose to get on the road and head out instead of making breakfast.  What I drove through today was fascinating.  A couple hundred years back, 1783 in fact, one of the volcanoes on the south coast erupted in a fantastic manner.  Caused destruction, through ash and debris all over the south end of the island (in an area called the Eldhraun), and sent gases into the air that not only poisoned the local plants and people, but is also credited with crop failures across Europe.  In fact, they say that Iceland’s population decreased by ⅕ in the aftermath.  But what it left behind in the Eldhraun was a bunch of lava bolders, that have spent the past few centuries gaining all sorts of moss and lichens.  When you look across these bolder fields you just see roundish green things. 

I stopped at this interesting stop along the way.  There was a board explaining what I saw.  It said that about a millenia ago a man lived in the area and his house was destroyed by the first eruption of the volcano Katla (since Iceland was settled).  Since then it has been tradition for visitors to the site to leave a stone to honor the man who lived there, so there are piles upon piles of stones all around the area.

There were probably a few hundred piles from 1-4 feet tall. 

I also passed through an area where in 2011 a glacial burst from the Myrdalsjokull glacier, where essentially a bunch of water held within a glacier bursts free and goes flowing downhill the easiest way until it runs out of energy or makes it to the ocean.  It completely wiped out a section of the Ring Road.  Apparently there is a segment of Iceland public works that is an emergency bridge building team and they got to work as quickly as possible to remove debris and build a new bridge and fix the road.  They opted to make the channel the bridge spanned narrower because they said that part of the problem was the slow flow of a wide river caused silt to fill the bottom, making the river shallower.  Now the channel is narrower, but moves at a much swifter flow so they hope it will help, should it happen again.

I went through a section today that was literally just flat and black.  There was less life there than in a desert.  Hardly any plants.  Mostly just small lava boulders and black sand.

As I neared Skaftafell National Park, there was another area that was devastated by a glacial burst back in 1996.  They said that in the leadup to that burst a volcano in the Vatnajokull Glacier (the largest in Europe) started erupting.  The volcano was below the glacier, though eventually it melted a hole in the surface.  But anyways, all that heating of water caused some under-glacier lake to decide it needed more space and flowed down the glacier, taking out whatever was in the way.  Including a part of the Ring Road (familiar huh?)

I arrived at Skaftafell around lunchtime.  Had my first lunch not made by me in a few days at the cafeteria in the visitor’s center.  After that, I hiked up to Svartifoss.  I know enough Icelandic to know that “svart” means black and “foss” means waterfall.  The hike up there was a doozy.  It might not have been so bad, if not for the stairs up Skogafoss yesterday.  It was roughly a 270m vertical hike spread out over 1.8km.  But the waterfall was worth it.  It was so unique because it was made of those geometric columns that you wouldn’t think were natural, but totally are because they are found a couple other places on earth too.

Skogafoss

Warmed up, and with still a couple afternoon hours I decided to take the trail from Svartifoss to Sjonarnipa, which overlooked the Svinafellsjokull Glacier.  That part was relatively easy.  It was mostly flat(ish), which was part of the reason I decided to take it.  It was 2.4km across.  When I hit Sjonarnipa, I was overlooking the glacier, which was a rather neat view.  From there I headed back down to the visitor center.  It was on my way down I second guessed my decision to take this trail back down.  I probably would have died if I hadn’t taken my hiking poles with me (probably a slight exaggeration).  My knees might have died, but I probably would have been okay.  It was a very steep descent, and a portion of it was rather close to the edge.  It was muddy and wet.  But by the time it had gotten like that I was already about 1km into 3, so I decided to just keep going with it.  I survived, but am not sure I’d recommend that trail to anyone in the future.

Svinafellsjokull Glacial Lake

Camped out at Skaftafell tonight.  Tomorrow I’m supposed to be kayaking Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon, as long as the winds play nice. 

Iceland: I Love a Good Waterfall

 From Sunday, September 19th

I took my time getting going this morning because I didn’t have a lot of mileage to cover today.  But that didn’t mean I didn’t see a lot.  Today was all about waterfalls.  I started out with Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui.  But while there are just two waterfalls that they specifically advertise about, there are really like 4 in a 700m stretch.  Seljalandsfoss is a big one.  You can even walk around the back side of it (and see the back side of water).  Down at the other end of this area, is Gljufrabui which sits back in a little nook that you have to go back into to see (because of course you have too).  I’m so grateful for waterproof hiking boots because they kept my feet dry even while walking through some bits of the stream created by the waterfall.

Seljalandsfoss on the right, with two other falls (foss) to the left)

From there I backtracked a little and went to where the ferry leaves mainland Iceland to travel to Vestmannaeyjabaer.  I kind of regret not taking the ferry, but I don’t have time.  I did the math and the one place I have to be at a specific time (on Tuesday) is too far and there was too much I wanted to see in the meantime.  Maybe I’ll have to come back some other time and hit a few of the things I missed.  But I did see the island from afar and enjoyed sitting there watching waves crash for a bit against the rocks and the beach (soft black sand).

Up next was the Skogafoss Waterfall.  The water drops a whole 65m there so this is a tall waterfall.  And of course next to the waterfall is a set of stairs which I felt the need to take up.  The stairs lead to a viewing point above the falls, but also to the Fimmvorduhals trail.  The trail follows along the river that creates Skogafoss for 26km.  Obviously I wasn’t going to go the whole way (they recommend up to 4 days to do the whole thing).  I said I’d do up to 1 ½ hr out and then turn back, or if it started sprinkling.  Well, instead I made it a half hour and 1 mile in and then ran out of water because I hadn’t double-checked how much was in my water bladder.  Turns out it wasn’t a lot.  So I turned around and went back, disappointed I hadn’t made it a little further along the trail.  However, I did we lots of waterfalls in that 1 mile so it wasn’t completely terrible. 

One of the many falls along the Fimmsvorduhals.

Yesterday I got to see my first ever volcano and today I got to see my first ever glacier. This was just a small finger sticking out from the 4th largest glacier on Iceland. Due to melting ice, it has recently started to form its own glacial lake. It wasn't a pretty glacier. Lots of volcanic ash on top of it. Like other glaciers it has greatly receded back in the past 3 decades.

From there it was back in the car for one last stop for the day.  This was to see Dyrholaey (definitely don’t know how to say that either).  I couldn’t remember what Dyrholaey was exactly, but it was on my list of things to see so I stopped.  It was this island connected by causeway to the mainland.  There was a lighthouse up on top of these huge cliffs, and some neat rock formations.  It rained twice while I was there and I was given a rainbow for each rain to enjoy.  I have now seen 5 rainbows since hitting the road.  I’m pretty sure that is more than I saw in Hawai’i.

The light house at Dyrholaey.
(I'm switching this picture out as soon as I transfer a new one from my camera)

From Dyrholaey it was a short drive to Vik, where I’m spending the night.  I tend to get to a campground usually somewhere between 5 and 6, which is fairly good timing to cook supper, eat, get the bed ready, shower (maybe...depends on how sweaty I got and how much they charge for a shower), and then read or write this blog.  Still waiting for my Northern Lights.  It’s raining again so I don’t have a lot of hope for tonight.

Iceland: LAVA!!!

 From Saturday, September 19th

When I got up my first morning in the campground, I got dressed in my campervan, put stuff away, and then headed west.  I knew somewhere west there was an erupting volcano.  I knew roughly where it was and just hoped I would find it.  And boy did I ever!  But before I got there I wandered through Krysuvik Geothermal Area and past Kleifarvatn.  This area what amazing.  Two very different colors: the black of lava and the green of plantlife.  Some of the plants in one area I walked, when I couldn’t avoid them, were very spongy.  Like, if I needed to make a bed out of nature, I’d go with whatever those plants were.  I drove partway up the lake before turning around (because I didn’t want to end up back in Reykjavik). 

Kleifarvatn

On the way back south, I stopped at the Krysuvik Geothermal Area, which I had bypassed on my way up along the lake.  This area had a lot more of the bubbling mudpots and some boiling water just coming from the ground.  There was a boardwalk area to walk around.  I made the decision not to hike up higher on a trail because I still had a volcano to see!  No geysers here.

Getting a good whiff of sulphur at Krysuvik Geothermal Area

I continued east and saw a sign that was literally just a red mountain peak and a “P” for parking.  I didn’t realize what it was until I passed it.  I figured I’d turn around at the next place I could and go back.  But instead I found another parking lot.  I traded my regular coat for a rain coat because it looked like rain was threatening.  I also put my raincover on my backpack and rainpants in my bag, and headed out for the Fagradalsfjall volcano.  I was about half way to the viewpoint when it started sprinkling, so on went my rainpants (good choice on bringing those on the hike, Krystina).  I came around a corner and in my view was red-orange down the side of a mountain.  LAVA!!!  It was so exciting!  I’ve never seen an active volcano before!  

OMG IT'S LAVA!!!

I continued up the viewpoint hill.  It was the steepest hiking I’ve done since coming back from Kilimanjaro.  I just kept going pole pole (slowly slowly, in Swahili) up the hill.  I could have gone farther, but decided I didn’t think the view would change much from higher up (and I’m no longer in Kili hiking shape).  I took a bunch of pictures and just looked.  From where I was standing you could see black at the bottom of the valley, areas of red closer to the top, and mixed areas in between.  Vapor was rising from some areas of hardening lava down at the bottom.  People were everywhere.  It was crazy.  Some were even standing on the cooled lava (I feel like that was a rather stupid thing to do).  

Even in the rain, Trylla enjoyed seeing the volcano.

From the viewpoint I went down to the valley to the lava field.  I didn’t walk on it because I’m not dumb, but I did touch it.  The area I touched was very hard and cold.  It also wasn’t black.  It was more of a blue-grey-black color (heavier on the blue), which surprised me.  I’m not sure why it wasn’t black or charcoal grey like other lava fields I’ve seen.  Some of the hardened lava at what had obviously been the leading lava pushing out at some point recently, had picked up rocks on the way; like it had been trying to shove them out of the way.  In some areas it also had wrinkles.

The blue-grey-black lava.  Definitely more blue than black.

I made my way around the lava field to the other side.  I wanted to go partway up that side.  Truth be told, I wasn’t completely sure I was supposed to or should, but there were a couple hundred other people in front of me so I decided to.  I made my way to near where there was still some fresh lava slowly oozing its way down.  You could hear it.  Part of what I was hearing was it pushing cooling lava out of the way, but I’m not sure that was all I was hearing.  It was neat.  Just as I was leaving It looked like some Iceland patrol of some sort was starting to try to corral some people and move them away.  As I headed back to my car the rain turned from a light drizzle to a more steady rain.  I said after Kilimanjaro I would never intentionally go hiking in the rain again, but here I am.  But it has rained at least some part of every day I’ve been here.  It is just that prior to Saturday it was either at night or when I was inside somewhere.  Good thing my shoes are waterproof, and I have rain gear.

LAVA!!!

After the volcano I headed even further west.  My goal was the southwestern-most part of Iceland.  I got as close to Reykjanesta as I could without paying the 1000 kr fee...which mostly meant I just stopped and took a picture of the lighthouse from the road.  It was raining and windy and I didn’t really think I’d want to get out and explore the point more in that weather, so I didn’t think that 1000 kr would go to good use.  

My last part of the journey was to go to the place that is known as “The Bridge Between Two Continents”.  The reason Iceland is so active is because it sits on the edge of two tectonic plates: North American and Eurasian.  Here the two plates are pulling apart.  The Bridge Between Two Continents is a fancy little bridge that bridges the two plates.  Kind of cool and if it hadn’t been raining cats and dogs, I might have done a little more walking around instead of going, taking a photo, and running back to the car.  

Bridge Between Two Continents (in the rain)

That last point was the turning point, literally.  From there I turned and headed back east.  I stopped at a bakery in Grindavik and got a cinnamon roll.  I was really hoping maybe they’d also have sandwiches or something because some of the others I’ve stopped at in Reykjavik did, but this was just a normal baked goods bakery.  The cinnamon roll was very good.  I stopped in Thorlakshofn for some gas (I’ve already driven roughly 500 km).  That was an adventure, but I figured it out in the end.  One thing to note about Iceland is self-serve gas pumps require a chip & pin card.  Most US credit cards are chip & signature and won’t work.  Luckily my debit card doesn’t have any foreign transaction fees, so it worked just fine (yay for CapitalOne 360 Checking!).  I passed back through Selfoss where I spent last night and finally made it to Hvolsvollur (I have no clue how to say it).  I couldn’t find anywhere to check in, but the campground looked open and there were a few other campers here, so I picked a spot and settled in.  My raingear is drying (inside because it is raining outside again).  No northern lights so far because its just been rain and cloulds at night.

It’s been interesting because some parts of Iceland could be Kansas, but other most definitely aren’t.  Other random observations...their stop lights go green, yellow, red, red/yellow, green.  I think I’ve seen 3 stop signs so far.  They are all about the roundabouts and yield signs.  Nearly every house or apartment has a balcony even though it is cold much of the year.  Also, I noticed in the city where there are a lot of apartments that most had a small window open.  It didn’t hit me until I was at the guesthouse sleeping with a window open that this is probably because of radiator heating making it too hot inside.  It looks as if they build their apartments with a small window, often an upper section of a large multi-pane window (because you know heat rises), purposely for this.  The hot water here comes out of the faucet extreely hot immediately, but also has a very sulfury smell.  So perhaps shower in hot water and then rinse in cold?