Iceland Geldingadalir Volcano

Geldingadalir volcano: parking lot full of people. Hiked about 1 hour to a lava field and view of the volcano erupting every 10 minutes. It was beyond amazing!!! We hiked down to the lava field and saw lava flowing in front of our eyes. It was so close you could even touch it! 

Iceland Days 5-7

 Day 5: South Iceland

Fauskasandur beach: interesting rocks and black sand. Touched Arctic Ocean! 

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Iceland's deepest lake 248m. Jökulsárlón first started forming in 1934, when Breiðamerkurjökull glacier started retreating, leaving the lagoon in its path. It's a mixture of glacial melt and seawater, giving it unique blue color. Icebergs made of ice over 1000 years old. Seals can be spotted here. 

Vatnajökull icecap in the back, but too cloudy! Large pockets of water formed from volcanoes underneath that cause floods during eruptions (last 1996).  

Diamond Beach: Icebergs float out to the ocean from Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, and then get washed up by waves. So the beach is covered with ice, making it look like diamonds.

 

Fjallsárlón Glacier and lagoon. 

Rain stopped and clouds parted enough for us to see the glacier so we walked as close as we can to it. Also lagoon with a ton of icebergs you can pickup!

Glacial water is usually brown because of the glacial "flour" from ground up rocks

We saw a seal here! 

Saw an Arctic fox! 🦊

Stayed at Skaftafell campground (part of Vatnajökull ntnl park)

Svartifoss: don't miss this waterfall with hexagonal basalt columns. Park at visitor center or campground and hike 1.7km. Pass Hundafoss and Madnúsarfoss (waterfalls). 

Day 6 - Southwest Iceland

Skaftafellsjökull glacier. Easy flat walk 30 min to glacier. Can obtain an online brochure that matches with number signs on the trail. It talks about where the glacier had been in the past, rock composition, etc. If you continue along the left, can touch pieces of glacier and be on blocks of glacier!

Touching glacier!

Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon: what's unusual about this canyon are the rocks that jut out from the sides and the lush green all around that give it a soft appearance. 1km to viewpoint. Palagnite from the Ice Age, 2 mill years old. 

Eldhraun Lava Field: one of the largest in the world. Took us a looong time to drive through. 

Reynisdrangar: black sand beach in Vic. Basalt sea stacks, very windy. 

Hálsanefshellir cave (basalt columns). Very cool beach!

Formed from rapidly cooling rock. Hexagon is largest polygon that still tessellates 

Forms perpendicular to cooling

Reynissfjara beach. 

Sólheimajökull glacier: originate from SW part of Myrdalsjökull glacier (4th largest in Iceland). Glacier here is so dark. 

Skógafoss: large waterfall, often with rainbow bc of the mist. 

Seljalandsfoss: elegant waterfall you can go to the back of. 

Walk 560m farther and there is another waterfall hidden in a cave: Gljufrabui.  

Day 7 - Golden Circle and Volcano

Gullfoss: name from golden evening hue or rainbow that often appears. Legend also that a farmer didn't want anyone else to have his gold so he threw it into the waterfall. 

Area of many geysers: 

Geysir: dormant. Erupts after earthquakes, last in 2000, higher than old faithful. Used to go up 80m.

Strokkur "a churn": Erupts every 5-10min.

Surface 80 to 100C.

Precipitation of silica forms the white deposits everywhere. 

Sódi "the slob" geyser only erupts if soap is added. 

Kerid Crater: lies in row of craters called Tjarnarhólar. It's a scoria crater: magma chamber underneath, empties and stone from top falls down into the now empty magma chamber. Not from eruption. 

Returned to Reykjavik and saw this church:

Day 8 - Blue Lagoon

Expensive, but totally worth it! Felt good to be in this body temperature water while it was cold and raining outside. The lowest package comes with a silica face mask and a drink. They have local story telling time around 1pm. We spent about 4 hours here enjoying ourselves. 

Food was really expensive here, so the entire trip we ate oatmeal + fruit for breakfast, PB&J sandwich for lunch. Some dinners were freeze dried camping food, and other days was ramen with hot dog and spinach.  Not the meals of champions. 

The only times we ate out: 

Baejarins bestu hotdog $5 yummy sauce with onion and crispy fish flakes. 

Diner near airport, Olsen Olsen: fish and chips and lamb hoagie: so good to eat something other than oatmeal, pbj sandwich and dried foods/instant noodle! 

...looking forward to the warmth of Greece and delicious food!

Iceland Days 1-4

Day 1:  Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park

We got COVID tests at the airport, and picked up our Camper van from "Campervan Iceland".  Thingvellir is between the American and European tectonic plates, which move apart 2cm/year. 

Thingvellir was the site of ancient Iceland Parliament, Alþing (Althing) from 900 to 1700's.  The gathering had a chosen Law Speaker. In 1000 AD, the Law Speaker Thorgeir decided Icelanders accept Christianity, but could continue worshiping Norse gods, dispose of unwanted children, and eat horsemeat in secret. From 1200 to 1944, other Scandinavian countries took control of Iceland.  In 1944, Iceland became independent.

Thingvallavatn (nearby): Iceland's largest lake, formed from techtonic plate shifting, very diverse biome. 

We camped at Grundarfjörður campground.  We saw Grundarfoss waterfall just before.  The evening was super windy and rainy, hard to even go to bathroom. The van was shaking and loud the entire night.

Day 2: Snæfellsnes Peninsula

We woke up at 8am, but our car wouldn't start!  The car battery died bc our lights were left on.  Called, walked around town 2 hours, no one has jumper cables! We called the campground again accidentally, and the manager picked up!  She gave us a jump. Very nice people from Minnesota gave ride back to the campground from town.  Our clothes were soaked through.

Kirkjufellsfoss

Iceland's most famous waterfall, a short walk from a parking lot.  Distinctive mountain (kirkjufell "arrowhead") in the background. 

GOT spoiler: Hound's vision of beyond the wall; when they go capture a dead walker; also where children of the woods create first dead walker. 

Really wet, but so many waterfalls on the mountain side!  Bæjarfoss, Kerlingarfoss. 

Saxhóll Crater: lava cone formed 3k-4k yrs ago. 

View opposite of Snæfellsjökull active volcano (1446m), inspiration for Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Lóndrangar View Point: pair of rock pinnacles made from volcanic basalt, hewn out from softer surrounding rock through erosion. Remains of a crater. View of lava cliffs full of nesting seabirds! 

Hellnar beach: 

Valasnos freestanding rock 

Badstofa: colorful cave.

Troll statue: important part of an icelandic saga

Bjarnarfoss: beautiful waterfall with 10 other ones ones to the left. 

Day 3: Northern Iceland 

Yay! We had beautiful weather!   On this day, we saw 4/5 different landscapes. 

Reykjafoss: A quite hard to find waterfall.  We needed to follow very specific directions from a website guide.  There was a hot pot here also.

Godasfoss: "Waterfall of the Gods" because pagan chieftain threw all his idols into it when Iceland adopted Christianity. Spectacular waterfall; 12 meters high, 30m wide. 

Aldeyjarfoss: Most beautiful waterfall on the Skjalfandafljot River, framed with unique basalt columns.  The last 3km supposed to require 4 wheel drive. We drove most of the way and walked the last 1 mile, where there was a patch of snow.  After parking lot, go down toward waterfall on steepish hike for 10 min. 

Dimmuborgir: Located between Europe and American tectonic plates. Formed from gigantic volcanic eruption. Pseudo craters formed from steam explosions when lava flowed into Lake Myvatn. Looks like ancient citadel.

Grjótagjá: Lava cave with thermal spring. The Jon Snow and Ygritte cave (GOT reference)

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View of Hverfjall volcano (left): GOT beyond the wall filmed there. 

Námafjall Hverir Viewpoint: fumaroles and mud pots. 100C here, at 1000m deep, 200C. Hydrogen sulfide used to make gunpowder, now just smells like rotten eggs. 

We stayed at Hvammstangi campsite: very nice, clean, kitchen with stove and heated common area. Also saw family of 4 camping with a 7 month old! 

Day 4: Eastern Iceland

Dettifoss: most powerful waterfall in Europe at 45m high, 100m wide

0.6km to the right: Selfoss which is an elegant horseshoe shaped fall. The west side is easy to get to with paved road (20min), but a lot of mist. The east you can really get up close to the fall (45 min dirt road). 

Rjúkandi falls along the way. Too rainy to hike to it, but along the road saw so many waterfalls on the left. 

Saw reindeers!  I've never seen them before! 

Turf houses (so cute!): operational as sheephouses until 1970's. Turf on the roof for insulation.

 

Vatnsskaro road: Beautiful drive over the mountain and down to the ocean.

(Stóruro: shaped by recent Ice Age glaciation)

Borgarfjarðarhöfn: puffin paradise! 

We ate dinner at a campsite and met a couple biking around Iceland! 

Gufufoss: waterfall along the road. Also many other small waterfalls coming from both sides of mountains. 

Seydisfjordur: cute town in the fjordland, where ferries arrive from Denmark. 

One of the many fjords on the east coast: 

Berunes HI Hostel & Camp: 1500 ISK per person. Shower, kitchen +stove, inside dining, and 3 toilets. Very clean and great views!