Iceland VII: Myvatn - Aug 18/26

Our lodgings were in a great location so it was a very short drive to a large volcanic crater, Hverfjall, that was to be our first stop of the day. There was construction ongoing though (I think due to the early hour) so we continued a few minutes down the road to Dimmuborgir, famous for its lava fields and dramatically-shaped rocks. Here we found a trail to Hverfjall that was only a couple of km so we decided to just walk there even though I was pretty sure the road would be free later on. A windy trail through forest in the lava field did indeed leave us to the base of the volcano. Unfortunately the trail was straight up on rocky shale but we went for it and walked all the way around the crater. (Cars were already in the original parking lot by this point and the trail up from there was a lot easier than our slog). The crater was massive and it was a nice but windy walk with great views of the lake. Every side of the mountain had a different view - pastoral farm landscapes, a red hellish area representative of extensive geothermal activity, the lake, or a lava field with basalt dumped over a large area, with trees growing in between.

We then got off the volcano and hiked back to Dimmuborgir, which was getting pretty busy with some large groups. There were several trails around the area, taking in views of different rock formations left by the last eruption. We did most of them and saw many cool-looking lava towers.

Next we drove a little further up the road to see the pseudo-craters at Skútustaðagígar.  These are not true craters as lava did not erupt from them; instead lava passed over water and caused a steam explosion. We did not find this all too engaging after seeing real craters but took a quick walk near the lake, getting swarmed by flies all the while (the worst thing about Myvatn without question).

We also stopped in at the restauarant at Dimmuborgir, where they had an unlimited soup buffet (lamb, vegetable and coconut curry). They also had bread though the selection was more limited than the tomato soup we had the first day.

On the way back, we stopped briefly to take a look at some interesting rock formations and walk on the shore of the lake.

Next we headed up a mountainous road where we saw a the Krafla geothermal power plant en route.

The next attraction was the Leirhnjukur volcanic cone, where you can look around the epicentre of another eruption. A trail led around the rocks. In places, steam continued to rise from underground.

Just a short drive down the road was the Viti crater. While smaller than the one we had seen earlier in the day, this one was more appealing, with a lake at the bottom. Paths led about halfway around the crater.

Next, a long drive west, which we broke up by stopping at the Godafoss waterfall, just off the road. Legend has it when Iceland converted from the old Norse religion to Christianity, the speaker of the national assembly at the time threw all his statues of the old gods into this waterfall.We managed to catch an intermitternt rainbow over it as well. 

Next was a long drive to Akureyri, the second-largest city in Iceland (20,000 people) and the "capital of the north". We had skipped the Myvatn Nature Baths, a commercial hot spring pool. All the guidebooks recommend taking part in Iceland's longstanding bathing culture by visiting a local pool. Akureyri has the highest-rated pool in Iceland (as voted on by Icelanders) so after finding our apartment (a nice Air B&B basement suite) and starting some laundry, we headed off for the pool. Akureyri is a popular cruise ship stop so there were some foreigners like us there, and the front counter was ready with a laminated information sheet for visitors to make sure we followed all the rules (shower thoroughly since there is no/low chlorination in these pools, make sure to shower naked, etc.) The pool was pretty good with several hot pools, a lap pool, a sauna, a large warm pool and two good waterslides (one of the toilet-bowl variety and the other an enclosed fast slide). I saw other adults going up the glass tower to go down them so I went for it and nobody blinked an eye. 

We made a short walk down to near the seashore to take a look at the church there, designed by the same state designer who came up with the Hallgrimskirkja in the capital. 

After getting gas and provisions, we headed back to our apartment.

Iceland VI: To Myvatn - Aug 17/26

 Just outside of Egilsstaðir was a small waterfall we skipped the day before due to time. We started early today to visit Fardagafoss. It was short hike right off the route to Seyðisfjörður. The top led to a section right around the cliff by the waterfall, where chains were bolted into the rock to guide you around and get the best view of the falls. With more tree cover, you could have told me we were in Kananaskis and I would have believed you, so we felt right at home.

Back on route 1, we drove a short distance on gravel north to visit a reconstruction of a turf church. You could only view the outside but it was interesting. No parking charge (which is rare) so we spent a few minutes admiring the dedication of the landowner, who seems to have done this recreation as a passion project. The original church on the site seemed to be just for the farm it sat on.

A little further along, there was a more substantial collection of turf buildings - a smithy (itself a former church) and three outbuildings that were most recently used as winter sheep pens. 

The next planned stop was at the Rjukandi waterfall. We were definitely back on the tourist track as many cruises stop in Akureyri and I assume do day trips from there. Despite the moderate crowds it was a great-looking waterfall and a short but steep climb up to get closer. 

The day highlight was certainly a stop off the main route to Stuðlagil canyon. This canyon was "discovered" in 2009, when the construction of the hydro plant (that we missed visiting the day before) lowered the water level in the canyon, revealing striking basalt rock formations. 

We first went to the west side of the canyon (which was the Google Maps route). Here we found a very busy parking lot with many tour buses and long lines for bathrooms. (I sorted out a credit card issue on the phone here while waiting). Some metal steps led to various views of the canyon. While there, we noticed people on the other side playing down in the water, but could not see a way to get there. With some Googling we found there is also an east access some distance earlier on the road. After taking our photos, we headed there. The road was extremely rough and poor gravel with large potholes that threatened to awallow our trusty Picano. On top of all of this the parking lot was a 40 minute walk from the canyon, whereas the west side parking lot overlooked it. We trudged along the unassuming gravel path and were rewarded with much better access and views to the canyon. In the end I judge it worth it, though I wouldn't bother with the west side next time. 

Next was Dettifoss, marketed as the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Here we made sure to stick to the plan along the paved west side, where we got a great view overlooking the falls (getting a little wet from the mist in the process). We even saw a rainbow in the waterfall. A small further walk allowed us to make a loop to also see Settifoss, though not as close. 

Nancy found a bonus waterfall that was off a gravel road on the way back to Route 1. This was another road that our car had some trouble with due to the many rocks sticking out of the roadbed and a multiude of very deep potholes. With some careful driving, we made it and went for our short hike to see this waterfall. It looked like the trail had at one time gone right up to the falls, but now it is roped off for nature presentation, so we had to keep our distance.

The final sightseeing stop was Hverir, another site where geothermal activity lead to an otherwordly landscape. Mud bubbles at the furnace and steam rises out of natural vents in the ground. 

We next stopped into our lodgings, which were in a great location at Lake Myvayn, a shallow and beautiful lake. We a private room with a sink (nice middle ground) and shared showers and bathrooms (individual toilets and showers) which gave us a 15% discount at Daddi's Pizza, right next to the campground. This pizza was honestly awesome, not sure if it was because of the long hiking day or not but it was exactly the thing we needed.

Iceland V: East Fjords - Aug 16/26

We had a quick walk around the seashore of Hofn. As a kind of gimmick, they had info boards with small scale stainless steel dots representing the planets perched on top; the distances between the planets are also to scale. Many of the planets were missing from their places, no doubt taken home by boorish tourists. 

This was primarily a driving day. We took the more scenic Ring Road (route 1) that goes in and out of all the inlets going along the east coast of the country (a region appropriately called the East Fjords) to avoid the gravel "direct" route. We stopped first at the Stokknes peninsula, which housed a very touristy cafe and charged you to drive down onto the peninsula to take a picture of a famous rock/mountain called Vestrahorn. It also contains a dilapitated Viking village movie set. We were a bit put off by the vibe there and it was very foggy anyway, so instead of paying the fee to drive down the road, continued on our journey.

Our next stop was the Lonsvik Bay lighthouse. It's a modern lighthouse, like all of the ones we saw in Iceland, and not particularly attractive, but it had a nice shoreline. Nearby, you could walk down on very soft/loose gravel to a small inlet that was a haven for swans. We stayed quite a while walking around and taking pictures. (Nancy had another panic when I disappeared behind the lighthouse to walk the rocky shore). 

One more stop towards Laekjavik to see some basalt columns and a black sand beach:

Continuing on, we spotted a waterfall on the side of the road and decided to stop. It turned out to be Nykurhylsfoss and another waterfall, which was not on our itinerary but made for a nice break.

My plan had us going to the main "capital" of the East Fjords, Egilsstaðir, dropping off our stuff at the place we were staying, and then doing a couple small trips from there. This was mainly to avoid gravel roads, which I wasn't sure about since our car was quite low-clearance and not equipped for bad roads. I was driving and Nancy was navigating, and she found that we could get to one of our stops quicker without this out-and-back detour. I forgot that I had specifically planned it the way I did to avoid gravel, so we went on our merry way to see Hengifoss down a gravel road. However, this turned out to probably be the most maintained of the gravel roads we drove down and I had no trouble doing near the speed limit (80 km/h) on most of it as there were no sharp rocks and the roadbed was just hard dirt. 

On the way we made another photo stop to get a view of Lagarfljot, a long, narrow glacial lake. a Loch Ness-esque lake monster, the Lagarfljot Worm. There was a brief storyboard with the history of various sitings over the years. Sitings have lately been attributed to rotting moss and logs floating in the lake. 

Hengifoss's claim to fame is being the third-highest waterfall in Iceland. We also found significant quantities of trees here for one of the first times on the trip, since the early settlers burned them all down. Many of these forests are planted, mostly to prevent soil erosion, which is an issue due to the volcanic rock that the island sits on. Unfortunately you could not get that close to Hengifoss  as they are worried about tourists getting into trouble, so that knocked it down a little in my estimation compared to other falls in Iceland. Probably better, in my opinion, then the headline waterfall was a smaller one on the way called Litlanesfoss, which was surrounded by basalt columns. Hengifoss itself comes down from a colourful red, striated cliff. The hike along the way is nice as well, with good views of the lake. 

On my program originally but cut due to lack of time was a visit to Iceland's largest hydro power station. I got rid of it because it would have been a long detour from Egilsstaðir, where we were staying. With our gravel direct route, though, I realized only after it would have been only a half-hour further drive, on a paved road, to see the plant from Hengifoss! A bit disappointed by this missed opportunity - as you can see from the photos, we had excellent weather this today and you have to take advantage of the blue days when you get them here. 

We dropped off our stuff at our guesthouse, which was right in town. We had our own room but there were shared bathrooms (individual bathrooms but shared between guests), which was fine. It was just off route 1 so very easy to get to. Trying to squeeze what we could out of the good weather, we headed out east to the small coastal town of Seyðisfjörður. It was only about 27 km away and I needed a break after a lot of driving, so Nancy took the wheel for only the second time this trip. What wasn't evident from the map is that Seyðisfjörður is located on the other side of a mountain pass, which meant going straight up and around steep switchbacks with dropoffs on both sides (guardrails must have been out of budget). As well, there was a fog/driving up into a cloud issue to deal with that limited visibility, so it was white-knuckle the whole way. One we made it safely over the pass and down into the valley, we stopped at a waterfall located just outside the town, Gugufoss. It was just a short walk to the falls and you could get as close as you wanted.

After all of that we had to spend some time in the town, so we walked around a small pond around the "downtown" (the town is very small). They have a famous church with a rainbow street there, and the town was surrounded by mountains on all sides, so it was a nice visit. 

After walking around the lake, we headed back (me driving again). Food options were limited due to the late hour so we went to the gas station diner, which again surprised to the upside in terms of quality. It was  styled as a American mid-century soda counter (think Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe). Unfortunately while the decor and music were 1955 Riverdale, the prices were decidedly 2026 Egilsstaðir; nonetheless, the food was quite good and had free pop refills (a rarity). After gassing up and eating, we drove across the street to the guesthouse, where we occupied the corner room. Nancy did a walk around town and bought razors for me while I relaxed and caught up on my trip documenting.