final iceland



I know, I know, finish up already. But Iceland was just too awesome not to share everything. The rest of Sunday was spent all things ice. Instead of driving until dusk toward our Monday destination, we decided to camp next to a glacier. In Iceland it's legal to just pull off the road - anywhere - and set up camp; it's also legal and safe to hitch hike but that's not something I supported. So camp is what we did after watching some of the World Cup final in a petrol station. Iceland cities are pretty scarce in certain areas and restaurants are hard to come by. We found a gas station nearby that was serving pizzas and pulled a screen over the windows to project the game. Half of the station was this set-up and half was the actual "convenient store." I bet 100 people were in there by the end of the match. Considering we were in a city with population of maybe 20, it was impressive! It was quite the fancy establishment!

It poured rain all night. In the morning we walked around the glacier base before hitting the road for a long(er than normal) 5 hour drive west.

Out on the open road... I loved the landscape changes from east to west; lava fields to open fields and in between beautiful waterfalls.

Our final destination and relaxation spot was Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa located in a lava field. We weren't planning to pay for camping Monday night so this doubled as our shower stop! It was nice to end the trip here. They had silica mud mask stations set around the hot water and you could buy lava masks at the bar so everyone sort of looked ridiculous.

We decided to make our last camp for the night on the sea. Back to our roots, I suppose. Below is my "I'm sick of damp-camping and ready for warmth" look. But it also showcases the inside of our home for the week. It was rainy. I knew it could be but of course all the pictures of Iceland debut sunny skies and people hiking in shorts.

We finished up the trip with a stop in Reykjavik to drop off the camper and wander the city before hopping a bus back to the airport. Iceland was somewhere I wasn't even really aware of but it was one of my favorite trips so far. I feel like a broken record; this year, each trip has gotten better and better!

jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón was the stop I was looking forward to since we'd confirmed our flight. After driving a couple hours from Skaftafell we were expecting to get closer to the sea; we were headed toward the icebergs! I thought they'd be on my right, near the ocean water but after seeing some cars stopping and people wandering, through some black sand hills we spotted them...

Along with the waterfalls the actual size of these are hard to illustrate via picture. Some were small, some were enormous! The icebergs break off of the glacier, Vatnajökull, float into the lagoon and spend up to 1000 years breaking down before they are carried out to sea.

After walking around a little bit and grabbing some seafood soup for lunch at the 8 table café, we decided it was worth taking an amphibious boat tour through the lagoon. The boats aren't allowed to get super up close and personal on the icebergs or glacier because of their enormous size and their ability to flip at any minute. We didn't see any flip, but we did see some small chucks breaking off as a few collided. You only see 1/10 of iceberg above water. It is almost impossible to imagine the amount that is underwater.

Stylish life jackets were required on the tour. Safety first! They passed around a small piece of iceberg that was crystal clear; I mean crystal! And then the guide chipped away at it so we could say we ate 1000 year old ice. The lagoon is unable to completely freeze naturally despite the frigid temps in the winter because it is 50% salt water. But, for a pretty penny it can manually be done; like for the film James Bond - Die Another Day.

Above shows a few smaller icebergs traveling through the canal, headed to open waters. After making their way through the canal they are beached for a  while and finally broken down to be carried out to sea. The black sand beaches made the crystal clear ice look like diamonds.

It's not dirt on the icebergs; it's the black volcanic sand. Most of it is embedded within but will be washed away as they break down. We spotted a few seals during our adventure but they were hard to catch by camera. Unfortunately, none of them decided to "beach" up on the icebergs for an afternoon nap - probably because the sun wasn't out!

 Jökulsárlón is a place I'm glad I witnessed and will never forget.

land of ice

On Sunday morning, we found ourselves eating scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast again but outside a glacier instead of a waterfall. And the sun was shining!

We were at Skaftafell national park. Similar to all of Iceland, it has some great hikes. Our legs were still tired from the Fimmvörðuháls trail we tacked the previous day but we decided to check out the well known Svartifoss fall before hitting the road anyway. The hike started through the trees; opened up to some smaller falls; and after a bit of a hill, Svartifoss appeared all alone from inside the mountain.

It's one of the most popular sights because of the black basalt columns that back the fall. We continued on up the mountain to Sjónarsker to get a view of Skeiðarársandur. The view offered a little of everything: black volcanic sand and lava, a mountain, and a glacier. The picture is great but it really was more fantastic in person.

We were glad we got to ditch the winter-ish wardrobe for just a short time. Luckily, we arrived prepared for cold temps but neither of us thought we'd be sporting layers each day. As we hit the road and headed east, we could feel the temperature changing... hats and coats again for the next stop!

off the grid

Saturday morning started with some scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast before hitting the Fimmvörðuháls trail. And I don't have the slightest clue how to actually pronounce that. It is supposed to take 10 hours to complete the 25km trail but a book we read cut it into thirds so we decided we'd try to tackle the first; we'd know because before the second you reach 'the bridge.'

There were 22 waterfalls in all before reaching 'the bridge' and passing between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull ice caps. Again, the pronunciation... your guess is as good as mine! Each waterfall was more magnificent than the previous. The whole trail was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

After a while, we thought about turning back, retracing our steps, back to the camp ground but we'd hear another fall in the distance and decide to keep going. Almost three hours had passed since we started and we still hadn't seen 'the bridge.' We were a bit tired and hungry and we knew that we had to walk all the way back so we turned around.

The magnitude of the valley is really difficult via photos, but it was hundreds of feet to the river below from the top. Mark is looking down to the bottom (to the right of the waterfall, below) but it was usually difficult to see because of all the mist in the air.

After a couple "roads less traveled" we made it back to the camp and drove to Skaftafell for the night. We paid for showers - $4 for 5 minutes; they put the time on a card; you entered the card into a machine and the water started flowing. I completely exhausted my 5 minutes; when the time hit zero, the water shut off - and camping before firing up the grill and hot plate for dinner. I was a bit skeptical of the bathroom/shower accommodations at the campgrounds but those Icelandic know how to host! The bathrooms were heated and much cleaner than most French restaurant bathrooms.

The camper van was equipped with a small sink, hot plate and electric cooler; we rented the grill. Iceland has the cleanest water in the world so most campsites had a fresh water hose to fill the water tank in the van... or we used two water bottles and took turns filling and dumping from a sink. Obviously it wasn't ever hot water, but it was still convenient to have. Below was our view outside the "back porch" for Saturday night. Other than a few neighbor campers, we looked at Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland. This picture was taken a little before 11:00pm. Since it's mid-summer, it didn't really get "dark" - sunset was around 11:30pm and sunrise around 3:30am. I woke up around 2:30am and walked outside; there were very few clouds then so it was pretty bright!