Iceland IV: Glacier and lagoons - SE Iceland - Aug 15/26

C Despite our very late and stressful finish, Nancy was up early to go for a hike around the camping area on her own. I got up at a more reasonable hour, though we were on the road by 8 AM to make sure we could slowly negotiate the terrible gravel road without traffic pressure. 

We travelled south, backtracking some of the day before, a necessity due to a pauctiy of lodgings further south when we were looking. We stopped on the side of the road for some of bizarre industrial machine, or perhaps artpiece. 

The first planned stop, though, was at Jokulsarlon, another glacier lagoon. The ice comes off the glacier in large icebergs that float in the lagoon. They then move out into the ocean and melt there. We saw some seals in the water, but other than that it was pretty quiet. 

The ice is sometimes deposited on the shore's black sand after being polished - creating the so-called "Diamond Beach". It was fun to walk around there and look at the various creations that landed there. 

We carried on to a second, smaller glacier lagoon, Fjallsarlon. We again spent some time just wandering the shore and looking at the icebergs in the lagoon. We saw a few people in special suits that let you "float" on the water. We had a difference experience booked for later at Jokulsarlon though and thought it looked better than the floating wetsuits, which looked like a novelty that might be fun for a few minutes. We also saw where the river had completely changed course, leaving behind a useless bridge. It brought to mind Cormac McCarthy's The Road. 

Continuing south, we stopped a little before Skaftafell to do the Mululglufur hike. It has been touted as a hidden gem, but like anything it didn't stay hidden for long. The parking lot was active and they appear to be upgrading the trail. The weather was foggy and misty, which means my pictures didn't turn out well. The fairly-tale waterfall views that were the main reward for this hike, though, made it my favourite so far of anything we did in Iceland. I found it to be almost comically beautiful.

The main feature was the waterfall and gorge depicted above. The trail kept going, though, and I wanted to see the end of it. Iceland mountains are not that high so I didn't think it would take long - more precision wasn't possible due to the fog. Nancy wasn't interested in doing the full hike up but I just couldn't leave it, so went up myself. Every time I thought I reached the summit, there was another ridge - similar to some ridgewalks I have done in the Rockies. I finally reached the end, though the pictures of course don't show anything at all. 

I met an American from Indiana coming down and we exchange photo-ops. 

I went to the bottom to find a very distraught Nancy. I was taking so long (due to the multiple ridges) that she thought I had fell off in the fog somewhere and died. If only we had pulled out the walkie-talkies we had brought over for exactly this purpose!  I was alive and well though so we went back north to Jokulsarlon. We were a little early for our 4 PM kayak tour on the lagoon so we wandered around and got some different ice pictures from the morning, and checked out the other side of the lagoon beach for more interesting formation. 

The kayak tour was pretty good as we were able to get closer to the icebergs. 

See the seal in the background?

We took one last pass around to look at the icebergs and headed out. 

We stayed in the village of Hofn, which was a bit of a drive from the lagoons. It was our first real hotel-style room and was clean and functional, with a private bathroom! It appeared to recently have been redone and was sleek & modern. We were pretty tired and everything closes early in these small towns. We debated some options but ended up having burgers at the gas station - gas stations in Iceland often have full grills, in our case from a food truck outside run by the restauarant. We are getting used to Iceland prices (~$40 for a burger and fries, no drink). It was good though!

Iceland III: SE Iceland - August 14/26

 We headed out immediately back to the Dyrholaey promontory, driving to the top where there is a lighthouse. My comment on the itinerary for this stop was "possible puffins". We encountered these cute birds directly after arrival and had the place almost to ourselves for a while. Jude's camera came in handy for some close-ups. The view from the promontory is quite nice. There was also a path down to the lower parking lot at sea level, where we saw a lot more puffins up close. What appeared to be some old artillery placements finished out the sites here. This may be Nancy's favourite stop on the entire trip.

Lighthouse

Puffins

Next, we headed back towards Vik to a famous black sand beach, Reynisfjara, also moved from the prior day due to time constraints. An enormous cave carved by the waves was the chief feature here. The waves in this location are called "sneaker waves" - they can easily sneak up on you and pull you in, so constant vigilance was necessary.  On the way we passed a picturesque church in what we have come to regard as the standard Iceland design - we have seen many of these churches, almost identical, across the country. 

Beach

Cave

Church

Cave

Going back through Vik for gas and a quick grocery store snack, we also stopped at the Vik church at the top of the hill. It's almost identical to the one we found at the beach, but it offered great views of the surrounding area and the rest of Vik. 

Vik church panorama

 

We headed to our next stop, but an information board on the mossy rock that Nancy favours called us off the road. This moss takes a very long time to grow and so is protected in Iceland.

Lichen-covered boulders

The next item on the program was a stop at Fjodrargljufur, a beautiful canyon carved by a glacial river. It features craggy columns in interesting shapes, mostly blanketed by the ubitquitous moss. It would hardly be Iceland without a waterfall as well.

We continued heading east into the Vatnajokull National Park. The visitor centre was right by the side of the road so we stopped in. We had a good chat with the ranger who recommended a few things, firstly being the canyon we had just seen, but also a waterfall (Systrafoss) and a natural basalt rock formation that looks like a church floor (Kirkjugolf). She also recommended a waterfall in a nearby town (Kirkjubaejarklaustur) with a small loop hike. We had the church floor and the waterfall in our plans but decided to do the hike from the waterfall as well. Her final recommendation was some small basalt columns at the side of the road to get up close to the formations, which we did as well.

The hike itself reminded me a lot of doing a very low ridgewalk Kananaskis, including going through some woods (rare in Iceland as they were mostly burned for firewood centuries ago). It did offer good views of the surrounding area. We somewhat lost the trail but the town was easy to see, so we made our way back and visited the "church floor" on the way out of town. 

Systrafoss

Systrafoss ridgewalk

Basalt "church floor"

Basalt formations at the roadside

We continued on to Skaftafell, also in the national park. There are several hikes starting from there, but the premier one visits a waterfall called Svartifoss, with impressive columnar rock formations surrounding the waterfall, looking very faucet-like pourly cleanly into its pool below.

We had a bit of time and were having good weather (by Icelandic standards) so decided to push for another hike in Skaftafell. This one also led to a glacier lagoon, Skaftafellsjökull. Moraines clearly indicate the extent of the ice's recession. 

Sheep graze freely; we got some close-ups at the conclusion of our hike

Finally, to get back on schedule, we headed to our last planned stop, which was another glacier lagoon, Svinafellsjokull, which is an outlet glacier of Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe. It was a bit more photogenic than the one we had just visited in Skaftafell. We caught it just as the sun was setting, a fitting cap to the day (we thought).

On the way back, we saw a kind of airplane thing on the side of the road and stopped for a quick photo. I slid down - it was faster than it looked.

All that remained was the small matter of getting to our lodgings, which was a glamping tent in Haukafell, a 75-minute drive. It was getting late (we arrived at about 10 PM) and the camping was located some distance down a very rough dirt road, composed mainly of potholes and razor-like rocks that I thought were sure to assassinate at least one tire (especially as we passed a broken-down car on the side of the gravel road with exactly that ailment). We made it, though not without significant stress. The tent itself was pretty nice and a nearby heated seacan had a full bathroom and showers. Italians were merrymaking nearby but with the aid of earplugs, we fell quickly asleep in our heated tent. 

Glamping tent interior

Very long day, great scenery, lots of extra things we hadn't planned for, and a late finish. 

Iceland II: South Coast/ Nancy's birthday - Aug 13/26

 I should note, these travel posts are mostly a journal for future me, not expecting anyone to read all the detail.

Nancy's 40th birthday today! We had a good breakfast in our little hotel. They even had a intermittently-functioning waffle iron. They also had cucumbers and tomatoes, which is good as fresh vegetables are somewhat hard to find on the menu here at the restaurants we are finding. Smoked meats, fish and cheeses also featured prominently, as did a variety of homemade pastries. 

Just down the road from the hotel is the Kerid Crater. We had planned this for our arrival day but moved it so we could relax in the hot pool on our arrival day instead. The crater is the result of volcanic activity. We walked all the way around the top and bottom.

Our next stop was the Geothermal Exhibition, which for me has both professional and personal interest. Iceland is a leader in geothermal energy because of its location on the techtonic plates, which puts steam and pressure close to the surface. It is drilled to using boreholes similar to an oil or gas well. Geothermal fluid (water mixed with minerals) is brought to the surface and used to boil water to create steam, which spins a turbine, which is attached to a generator. Lower-temperature liquid is also used to heat cold water that is directly used by people for home heating and domestic use. The Geothermal Exhibition is attached to a 303 MW geothermal power plant and they even have windows right into the turbine hall. Hot water is piped directly to the city in above-ground, insulated pipes - no risk of freezing!

On the way to the power plant, we also stopped at a small hot area called Hveradlir. This Mars-like landscape is shaped by the geothermal activity in the area - heated mud can be used for various spa-type purposes. There was a little boardwalk there with some signage - apparently there have been greenhouses in this location using the steam for heat, and early settlers planted potatoes here too. 

Two popular waterfalls followed as we continued our journey east. The first is Seljalandfoss and the second is Gljufrabui (the "hidden" falls). The latter was the first time things felt too overtouristed. The waterfall is located in a cave with narrow access and only one way in or out, so a line formed, and we probably waited 20-30 minutes to get our chance to jostle with the Instagram crew to get our look in. The southern US tourists around us made their feelings on the wait known loudly and often. Seljalandfoss was cool as you can walk up and around the falls. For many others you have to stay farther away. Both were pretty spectacular.

On the way to Skogafoss, we spotted a house built into a cave on the side of the road and pulled in for a look.

Then Skogafoss, a waterfall not quite as busy as the previous stop, as it required a hike to get the best views. We went up farther than most and it looked like the trail continued onto another bridge for 5-20 km, but we weren't sure where it went and wanted to keep moving.

Just down the road is a much less-visited waterfall, Kvernufoss. There were only a couple of groups there and it was nice to get away from the crowds a little. Like Seljalandfoss, you can walk behind this one.

A visit to the Solheimajokull glacier lagoon was next. It is quite "dirty"-looking and it picks up sediment before melting completely. The glacier has receded almost 1 km in the last 20 years; climate change is very evident in Iceland. 

We then headed to a pizza place in the village of Vik, whose claim to fame is a black crust reminiscent of the nearby black sand beaches. I am pretty sure I picked up an expensive speeding ticket on the way into town as the limit drops from 90 to 50km/h on a downhill. No drifting to the correct speed here - lesson learned. 

I got a regular sourdough crust as none of the black crust options appealed to me but Nancy said her spicy tuna black crust tasted the same as mine. We took it to go in order to drive up to the Dyholaey promontory. However, it was getting dark (9:30) and the drive was very foggy up a steep mountain road with blind corners. We made it, but decided not to stay longer and just drove back to town. We couldn't see anything anyway owing to the poor light and fog. We ate our first pieces of pizza in the car to gather strength to move our bags into our small but functional bunk beds in our private hostel room. The hostel was basically all that was available because of the eclipse (without shelling out $1K for the night) but was fine, although we were located next to the shared bathroom on our floor. My only complaint was the steep, curving stairs to our second-floor room that made it hellish to navigate with a large suitcase. 

Very busy but good day.