More updates to come from yesterday and today, but it’s time for bed and to say “Until next time” to Iceland. Flying out (🤞) tomorrow morning.
Visiting Skógafoss? I highly recommended following the Waterfall Way. The most work is climbing to the top of Skógafoss. From there it’s straight beauty. The first 25% of our hike was in steady rain, but we were prepared.
Steinbogafoss, Fremri-Fellsfoss, unnamed waterfall, and Skálabrekkufoss.
Two days ago. Kvernufoss and Skógafoss. If you’re visiting Skógafoss, don’t skip Kvernufoss. A walk-behind waterfall with hardly any other visitors.
Two days ago now. Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrafoss. Do not miss Gljúfrafoss!
Just experienced the super rare Iceland thunders (Hopefully that’s what it was!)
Got back to our Airbnb and noticed a tire was losing air. Flat within 10 minutes. Thankfully it wasn’t on the side of the road. Thankfully it wasn’t during our 6-hour epic drive in the northeast. Still a bummer, though.
I will have to save my photo update for tomorrow. 🙃
Finally we were glad we decided to go out in the rain one last time to visit the famous Reynisfjara black sand beach. We overlooked it from Dyrhólaey earlier in the day, but walking directly on its otherworldly sand was a whole different experience.
Then we spent some time in Vík. First looking at the church and cemetery. Then taking in the Lava Show. Hot!
Today was a bit more typical Iceland: windy and rainy.
Still, we soldiered on! First to Dyrhólaey.
After grabbing groceries at the absurdly busy Krónan grocery store in Vik, we headed west out of town and the sun peaked through the clouds for the first time all day. Simply breathtaking!
We wondered where this path led to near Stjórnarfoss. We gazed at miles upon miles of moss covered lava fields. We could have stared at Fjarðarárgljúfur (feather river canyon) literally all night. It was so gorgeous. We wrapped our pre-Vik drive up at Yoda Cave.
A stop at Dverghamrar yielded a number of fun pictures, including the first one with Foss á Síðu in the background.
Today we drove from Hotel Skaftafell to our remote Airbnb an hour west of Vik. The sheep outside of our window were ready to go! After a great breakfast, we took a stroll behind the hotel to see Svínafellsjökull. Next, a 45-minute hike to the famous Svartifoss. Then we found Lómagnúpur sleeping.
For today’s glacier hike, well, I had to write a full blog post. Enjoy The Falling Glacier.
Final yesterday! Our lodging has been pretty great throughout the trip. Though expensive! (Even planning 6 months early, options were sparse.)
We watched the Euro finals over dinner. The view at REY Stays was lovely, including a Harvestore-style silo like we had on our farm growing up.
Also yesterday! We visited Diamond Beach, where artists were forming the ice into diamond shapes. Cool! Then on to Jökulsárlón, a large glacial lagoon filled with icebergs from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier.
I will write more in-depth on bjhess.com later. A collection of pages vs blog posts? 🤔
Yesterday! As I mentioned prior, extreme driving day. Here are four shots from the drive: Rjúkandafoss, marina at Djúpivogur, some mountains (😀), and the back side of Vestrahorn mountain (I think).
Way too tired to post an 🇮🇸 update tonight.
First hiccup of the trip. I thought an excursion south of Höfn was tomorrow, but it is this afternoon. So we got up before 4am to drive. More rushed than I’d prefer.
Also, who is building the Iceland Bathrooms app? I knew it might be a challenge, but wasn’t expecting this level of difficulty!
Finally, we found an absolute gem of a path in Höfði nature preserve. An odd Icelandic location covered in trees, it was a husband-wife passion project in the mid 20th century. Donated to the country in the 1970, it also offers an awesome view of the free-standing lava pillars called Klasar.
We had some lovely pizza at Daddi’s, and then jetted off to the Dimmuborgir lava field. It was a surreal landscape, a kind hiker offered to take an epic family photo, and we embarrassed the kids by sitting on Santa’s throne.
The rain started dropping on us around Krafla Viti crater. (Not to be confused with Víti geothermal lake near Askja, which is much harder to access. Believe me, I wanted to make the trek.) Then a short drive to Hverir geothermal fields followed by a visit to Jon and Ygritte’s GoT (Grjótagjá) cave.
In Iceland you sometimes take unplanned detours. After waterfalls, I saw this crater to the south of Route 1 and drove in. I was the only one to climb the Hrassaborg Crater. It offered a spectacular view over the moonscape toward Herðubreið, “The Queen of Icelandic Mountains.”
An epic day around Mývatn. Way too many pictures to share. (And many pictures on a different camera.)
Dettifoss, Dettifoss’s rainbow, Selfoss, and downstream Hafragilsfoss with it’s glorious canyon.
Wow, wow, wow.
A quick stop by Goðafoss, geared up for whale watching (prior post), explored the Húsavík waterfront, dinner at Hlodufell (not pictured), and finally landing at the alien landscape that is Mývatn.
