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Day 6:
We head out to Fjaorargljufur Canyon- another place that looks like it is from Lord of the Rings- beautifully carved and just magical. It is the first time I flew the drone in Iceland- don’t worry, it is legal in this location AND I got my Icelandic operators license. I also try stay well out of anyone’s photos and generally try not to annoy anyone with my presence. But be forewarned, if you fly a drone here, stay legal and do not fly anywhere it is not allowed- they enforce their no fly zones!
After that it is a short drive to Kirkjugolf- also known as the Church Floor. This is a bunch of basalt columns but the only part visible is the top, so they look like hexagonal tiles. It is easy to see why early settlers thought they were man made. I should point out that we didn’t really even need to drive here, they were located just a few hundred yards behind our campsite… but hey, you don’t know what you don’t know!
We keep driving a little farther on 1 to Dverghamrar, or Dwarf Towers. It’s a small canyon with some impressive basalt columns- there are folk tales about hymn singing dwarves living here, but we failed to see or hear any of them. It’s a nice stop and interesting to look at- we are finding much of Iceland is like that- a lot of places you will stop, take a very short walk and enjoy the view, then get back in your car and drive to the next stop. Sometimes we didn’t feel like we took in the sites well enough, but perhaps that’s because we come from a long hike perspective, where we are immersed in our location for hours at a time. But really you can spend 10-30 minutes at a lot of these places and still feel like you experienced them pretty well.
Our big stop for the day is Skaftafell National Park. Despite it being mostly sunny in the morning, as we hiked out to the glacier it turned gray and rainy. As we made our way back to the visitors center we noticed what appeared to be blueberries growing no more than six inches off the ground- so we gave them a try and sure enough they tasted like blueberries- nice and sweet! We also found some darker berries we didn’t recognize, so we brought one of each back to the visitors center- one of the rangers we met was an Italian biologist and we thought she could confirm. When I showed them to her she picked up the blue one, popped it in her mouth and said, yep, it’s a blueberry! The other one was a crowberry, edible but not as sweet.
We waited there as a huge downpour passed, then we hiked up to the Svartifoss waterfall- also known as the Black Falls for the very dark basalt columns it flows through. I know I use these words a lot- stunning, amazing, incredible… but so many of these places are, and this is no exception.
While hiking up to the falls the sun had come back out, so when we returned to the visitor center I wanted to go back to the glacier to get some photos in the sun. Melinda opted to wait, and since it is a 30 minute walk each way I hustled out as fast as I could, took my photos and then much to my (and Melinda’s) surprise I actually ran back most of the way. I should point out that Melinda is a retired triathlete and ultra runner, whereas I am much more like a mule- slow and steady, not much of a runner. But I wanted to keep her from waiting too long, and don’t tell her this, but it was kind of fun….
Our campground was SvÃnafelli– the sun was out and we took advantage of a fence and Thor to stretch out wet raingear & clothes we had handwashed the day before. The showers here were clean but rather small. We enjoyed waking up to a group of sheep in the pasture right behind us- luckily we hadn’t left our clothes hanging on their fence overnight!
Day 7:
Today is another of the “must see” places to visit. We are continuing our way up Hwy 1 to Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon. It is the smaller of the two lagoons we’ll visit today, and it is worth seeing (paid parking). It is much less crowded, and if you choose you can take a boat ride out to the glacier ($70pp) or a boat ride/glacier hike/jeep tour ($220pp). We decided that we didn’t need to hike on another glacier, but in retrospect the boat/hike/jeep tour would have been pretty cool. We weren’t really trying to save money on this trip, but we also wanted to only do the things we hadn’t done before or REALLY wanted to do. I don’t regret not doing it, but I think it would have fun.
Just up the road is star of today’s show- Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon and Diamond Beach. The lagoon has much larger glaciers, and they flow quickly out to sea- where the Atlantic waves break them up on the fine black sands of the beach. The lagoon itself is a little touristy, with kayaks and duck boats in the water but it is still beautiful. Diamond beach was packed, but seeing the glistening icebergs that range in size from a golf ball to a large car and in different shades of blue, white and clear is a photographers dream…I could literally spend hours there looking for the perfect shot, and all of pictures would be pretty cool. Parking is tight here but the price of one payment gives you access to three lots that are in the same vicinity. I’d choose the one just before you cross the long one lane bridge and walk to all the sites- none are that far away and it seemed to have the most available parking.
Then we have a long drive north up to the eastern fjords. It was a windy drive with very curvy roads but Melinda drove like a champ. We usually split the driving up but she really had the navigational plan down pat so I did the bulk of the driving here. After a while we tire of the wind and curves and have seen enough of the fjords for a day so we stayed in Fossadalur Campground, which was a bit off the road but was really beautiful- they had an amazing common area for cooking and hanging out. Our dinner was simple -tomatoes and avocado with cheese & oil. I will say that you don’t come to Iceland for the fine produce, but it was good enough. We got a bonus waterfall here as well- Nykurhylsfoss.
Day 8:
We decided to bypass a little bit of the fjords, so we leave Hwy 1 and take Road 939 up to Road 95, then we turn left onto Road 931 and drive down past Lake Lagarfljot, also known as Wyrm River Lake due to the tale of a Loch Ness type of creature living at the bottom of its 112m depths. At the end of the lake we found Hengifoss– it’s the second or third tallest waterfall here, depending on who you ask. It was a steep hike up and took about 2 hours roundtrip, but it had several great overlooks and was well worth the hike up. When we got back there was a small food truck open- we got some sheep’s milk ice cream (rhubarb & blueberry) and it was so very rich and creamy, not too sweet. Expensive, but worth it!
After the hike and ice cream we went up the other side of the lake on Road 931 which joined back into Hwy 1. We drive for a while and then detour onto Road 832, which is a lovely winding pass that leads down in the town of Seydisfjordur. This is pretty town that is an an interesting blend of industrial and artistic styles- there is even a well known art school located here called LungA School. There are a lot of colorful buildings and a rainbow street that is full of local craft shops- we bought some Circolo Icelandic Artisanal Chocolate there. We were getting tired of our simple camper meals and since we had options and local brewpub, we decided to eat at El Grillo Bar, which sounds like a Mexican place, but it isn’t- it’s named after a WWII shipwreck located in the bay. Melinda had the cod and I had the lamb- both were delicious and the beer was great as well!
While walking through town we discovered their huge bouncy pad…there didn’t seem to be an age limit so we bounced on it for a while and I admit I had waaayyyy too much fun! We spent the night in the campground that is right in the town– the ground was kind of rough and I don’t think there was a particularly level spot anywhere there. But the showers were big and clean and free.
Day 9:
We head out of town on the same road we came in- Road 832 and then back onto Hwy 1. Our first stop is a place I’d seen in our research, and it looked so amazing I really wanted to go – Studlagil Canyon was a little out of the way on Road 923- there was a parking lot near a bridge on the way but don’t be fooled, keep driving across the bridge and down the rough road and it will dead end into a parking lot and trailhead. From there it is an easy 5k hike alongside the river to one of the most breathtaking places we saw- green water flowing through black basalt- I got some amazing drone footage there (more on this later) and could have taken pictures for several hours. Don’t skip this place!
Continuing west on Hwy 1 we go through the lava fields for quite a ways- the wind is pretty strong through here, making for less than pleasant drive. Then we turn onto Road 862 and go up to Dettifoss (the most powerful waterfall in Europe) and Selfoss, which is a short walk upriver. It is really rainy and windy, but nothing like when we drove back and took a side road to Harfragilsfoss- the road was so fogged in and rough that Melinda suggested we turn around- but there was no place to do it! So we plowed ahead until the parking lot magically appeared through the clouds. They were all awesome, but sure would have liked some sun!
After Dettifoss we get back on 1 and go to the Viti Crater (Road 863)- you can drive almost right up to the top and look inside- it is filled with blue water and is really pretty. On the way up there is the “showerhead” which is either a joke or an art installation- but it really is a tall pipe on the side of the road with a shower head attached to it- the geothermal water constantly flows out of it so you could, in theory, take a quick shower while you are there. But keep your clothes on please!
Almost directly across from 863 is Námafjall, which is a large expanse of hot springs, fumaroles, mud pools and mud pots that all seem to be boil with relentless energy- kind of like Yellowstone here. The air is full of the smell of sulphur, so if that bothers you, you might want to give it a pass. We thought it was pretty neat though.
Because of time constraints we didn’t do Lake Myvatn, but instead headed up Road 87 towards Husavik. We stopped at Heidabaer campground, which is part of their local public pool. We hadn’t been to a public pool yet so we paid extra for the shower and pool access and spent a relaxing time in the pool and hot tub and it was money well spent! Two cool things that stood out to me were that at nearly 66 degrees north, at 8:30 PM, our shadows were nearly 50 feet long- I don’t know, I just found it fascinating. The other cool thing to pay attention to- and this is very geeky- is the plumbing in the bathrooms. Not something that most people pay any attention to, but I saw they were done by a craftsman- every bend was perfect, every joint was neat, all the metal pipe lengths were exactly as they should be- it’s rare to see that level of work anywhere.
Day 10:
We get up early to head into Husavik for whale watching. We had heard it was pretty easy to just buy tickets the day you wanted to leave, but our first choice, Gentle Giants, was sold out- so we went next door to North Sailing and got on their tour- I suspect they are both good companies. We saw porpoises and dolphins, and the tour guide said she saw a minke whale, but we did not. Nonetheless we felt it was a nice tour of the bay. Afterwards we had lunch at Salka’s– standard fish & chips that was tasty after a cold boat ride. Then across the street to get some postcards and stamps for the folks back home. I’m not sure people send postcards much these days, and while they’re expensive I still think they are more interesting than just a texted picture. And on the way out of town we saw an Airstream! We turned around as fast as we could and discovered it wasn’t a real Airstream, but it was a very good copy, made into a food truck!
Leaving Husavik we went to Godafoss Falls, which were right off Hwy 1 on Road 841- it’s another beautiful waterfall. I do love waterfalls, but after awhile even I become a little jaded about them! It’s a pretty quick stop and our motto has become “no sense saving it for next time, might as well do it now” since who knows when we’ll be back? We spent the night at Hamrar campground which I don’t remember much about- I think we were really tired and fell asleep early…my notes just say “nice campground, tucked away behind some bushes” and that’s it.
