Iceland

Our flight from RDU to KEF was a red eye that arrived in Iceland at 0630. We'd each gotten maybe 2-3 hours of sleep and we were tiiiired. Jet lag was a real struggle for most of the trip with Iceland being 4 hours ahead. After quickly clearing customs and securing our bag, we were picked up outside the terminal by Lava Rental Car, a local company with great customer service. Onward we left in our Hyundai Tuscon, diesel. First impressions: Iceland is barren, expansive and a little harsh. Lunar landscape. We stopped to fill up the tank (320 kronor/L = $9.20 a gallon - we should never complain about our $3.40/gallon gas) and grab some coffee and juice before we motored along to our first stop

The Reykjadalur Valley Hot Springs (smokey or steamy valley) is a geothermal valley but pleasantly without a sulfur smell. After a power nap, we headed up the 2 mile path to a boardwalk along the river with a series of bathing pools. We went up to the top where it was warmest, changed into our swimsuits behind some primitive wooden walls (saw lots of tushes and more, it's fine; note some experts brought robes!) and scurried into the nice warm water. It was so relaxing and we soaked for about 30 mins We were plagued by flies on the way down, we learned later everyone is, I guess they like the smell of the springs? After paying a modest parking and facility fee, we grabbed some groceries for the week at the Bonus in Selfoss. Icelandic food is a bit expensive and I'd rather spend my time seeing things than sitting at restaurants. I meal-planned before we left and for ~$80, we had food for the week (I also packed some grain packets, bars and tortillas in my suitcase).

After visiting Gluggafoss, a nice roadside waterfall (can you spot Shawn?), we ventured to Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, which you can see from the Ring Road. Just wow. We liked how you could walk behind it. There sure was a cattle trail and we got wet! Raincoats are helpful. We moseyed down to our lodging, The Garage, south of Hvolsvöllur - great little spot with a kitchenette, fresh baked goods in reception daily, and friendly dogs to greet you when you got back. We were in bed by 7p hopeful to shake the jet lag.

Up at 7a still sleepy, checked the weather report - no rain! Before we'd left for Iceland, the weather forecasted was rain every day, all day. But magically, all that went away on the day we departed and we were lucky for the whole trip to have sun, partly sun, or high clouds. Woo!

Landmannalaugar is on F-roads. They are janky and you're on them for an hour plus, I think having that expectation helped. We took F208 in. On the way, we took a pit stop at Sigoldufoss - an unmarked falls by the power plant. Beautiful turquoise water contrasting with the dark, jagged rocks. A highlight of the day. We arrived to the valley with the jigglies from being jostled around so much and we were one of the first arrivals of the day.

We hiked the Brennisteinsalda-Bláhnjúkur loop counter clockwise (2 mountains, 6.2 miles, 2000 ft elevation) which took us about 4 hours with picture stops and lunch. The first 1.5 miles was flat through a beautiful meadow and valley with incredible contrasts of lava flow, rhyolite mountains, green vegetation and scree. After a quick 30 minutes of ascending on a steep billy goat trail (seems like switchbacks are not an Icelandic thing) into some high winds, we arrived at the peak with epic 360 degree views. Iceland hiking is kind of nice in that you can look all around while hiking without worrying too much about tripping on a root or rock. I like that.

Down we went to a geothermal area steaming with anger, we had a quick river crossing (got a little wet) and headed up Bláhnjúkur, the black mountain, almost even purple. We marveled at how big everything looked even though it was actually pretty close (basically the opposite of Vegas), so it took us no time to climb up to the peak. We met 3 Aussies who were similarly following Earth Trekkers recs who were kind enough to snap our photo for us. The landscape here just was incredible, it all looked painted and our pictures just cannot do it justice. Loved seeing all of the snow pockets in the hills, and in the distance, I think we could see the Langjökull ice cap. The hike down was quick through volcanic scree, a little steep in places so you have to pay attention.

We decided to take F225 back, and the road was in much better shape than F208 overall. BUT... we forded a pretty good sized river and it was remote, so I'm so glad that the noble steed kept on a-going! 6 hours of driving today. Iceland is beautiful, takes some time to get to that beauty.

Yippeee no rain in the forecast. The Fimmvörðuháls trail is a 15.5 mile point-to-point hike with ~4000 ft of elevation gain. We anticipated it would take us around 8-10 hours and our bus was to pick us up in Thorsmork at 8:30p so we had a leisurely morning before the 10 minute drive from our lodging to Skogarfoss, the start of the trail. We asked a couple to take our photo at the falls and learned they were also doing the trail so we ended up spending a good part of the day with Jon and Jen from Canada, truly great people who love to travel like we do - often and to see it all! The first 5 miles of the trail up to the bridge is stunning. Foss after foss after foss, 26 in all and each unique, with a modest incline that keeps your heartrate up without a lot of effort. Rates up there as one of the best 2 hours of hiking we've ever had.

After the bridge, the trail gets a little boring for an hour or so along a gravel road, but at least we could look at the looming glaciers on either side of us: Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull. The volcano under Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010 so I kept a close eye on that girl. We arrived to the Baldvinsskali Hut at around 2p and ate our lunch with the hut keeper and her dog, who were heading home with the season closing the next day. She was so excited to take a shower, it had been 2 months!

We descended and ascended some steep snow- and black-sand covered ice, slipping often. The lady above me on the trail showered me inadvertently with some loose gravel. No worries She and her sister were from Minnesota (even once worked at Mayo! small world) and, like Jon and Jen, we leapfrogged with them most of the day. After crossing more volcanic terrain, we headed up to see Modi and Magni, two new mountains formed after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökul. The rock was really cool, red, and very loose. Every step was taken with care.

It was time now to head down into Thorsmork. The descent had several areas that were very narrow with steep dropoffs. I'm not very afraid of heights but I definitely had to focus on one step at a time, only doing what was right in front of me. It's actually good for the soul, isn't it? I really enjoyed the descent into the canyon. All the mountains greened up, the vegetation was so diverse, saw some flowers, trees and shrubs starting to take on their autumn colors. It was spectacular. We stopped for a snack on the side of the canyon since we knew we were going to have plenty of time before the bus arrived and we'd done a good job overall with time management. We arrived into Basar at around 6:45p and joined many of the new friends we'd made during the day also awaiting the bus. We ate the rest of the food we'd packed and went to find a patch of sun, because as it was setting, it got chilly. We walked along the braided river with Jon and Jen for another couple of miles just to keep warm. Our bus arrived early at 8p and everyone was accounted for, so we got to head out early. The ride was so fun fording all of the rivers in that big old bus, watching the sun set and the moon rise in the valley.

We arrived back to our lodging at about 10p, stuffed our faces and took gloriously hot showers. Easily Fimmvörðuháls trail was one of the best day hikes we've ever done for uniqueness and diversity of terrain and friends made along the way!

This day was spent driving (a lot) but seeing a lot of cool stuff. To pass time, I tried to look up facts about geology, history, islands, lava fields, glaciers, etc. It was this day when I realized why so many stay in Reyjavik and take bus tours, the driving can be tedious (but also... do I want to spend a vacation on a bus with someone else's time table? Not yet ... but probably someday). Our first stop was Reynisfjara Beach - a black sand beach with basalt columns and some impressive waves. In the distance, we could see Dyrholaey, a natural bridge in the ocean. We snapped some photos and hopped back in, onward to our next stop: Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, made famous by Justin Bieber I guess. It was pretty, photographed super well and had a nice foss at the top. It was an easy 2 mile round trip walk and it was very busy with people. I would say it wasn't as impressive as the first part of Fimmvörðuháls, but still a nice walk to work the kinks out of legs from yesterday's long journey.

Eastward we continued to the town of Kirkjubaejarklauster (say that 5 times fast) where we ate a gas station lunch: Shawn had fish and chips and I had a crunchy chicken burger for a total of $30 including fries and drinks. And it was pretty darn tasty! The next 1.5 hr drive up to the glacial lagoon was a little dreary, hard to stay awake, though we did drive through Eldhraun, a lava field, and saw huge, very busy (dirty) glaciers.

We arrived to Jökulsárlón at around 2:30p and spend the next 1.5h meandering along the lagoon, watching seals and willing a glacier to break off from the pack and go to sea. It reminded me a lot of the quarter game where you toss one in and hope it pushes a bunch out (but the magnetic strip just holds em tight). This place was just beautiful, and shockingly free. Shawn and I were amazed the whole trip how every epic location was free to visit. Some had modest fees for parking or to use the bathroom, but that seems reasonable overall. Loved that. We watched some people go out on kayak tours of the lagoon and there was an amphibious vehicle, which would be cool ways to experience the lagoon.

We headed under the bridge over to Diamond Beach where the glaciers that have broken off wash up onto the black sand shore. What a cool contrast. It was hard to leave here, honestly. It was visually such a fascinating place. I had also hoped today to hike to Svatifoss but after yesterday's adventures and all of the driving, we decided to pass in favor of dinner (I think this is a sign of aging). We arrived back to our apartment at 6p, cooked up some quesadillas and Shawn took a one-man hot-tub with his Icelandic beer as a reward for all of his driving.

After sleeping in and packing up, we were on the road to Gullfoss, a 1.5h drive. The Ring Road is great, but it was nice to be off it for a bit as we turned onto the Golden Circle. Shawn was interested in seeing the Kerid Crater, so we turned off for a quick jaunt around the rim for a nice 30 minute break from the car.

Gullfoss was pretty incredible. There was a nice restaurant, gift shop and bathroom right there at the falls and a well maintained path that we meandered on for about an hour, just taking in the thunder from the falls and enjoying the sun on our faces. I like how in Iceland, you can see the falls from the top so it looks like they are falling into the depths of the earth. We bought some souveniers in the gift shop.

Next stop was Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO Heritage site and also where the mid-Atlantic ridge is above ground marking a divergent zone of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. I've wanted to see this place since I was a geology major as a freshman in college for 3 months. We took the easy walk between the plates to Oxarafoss before perusing the archeologic remains.

We had a bit of time to kill before our hotel check in, so we drove into Reykjavik in search of a brewery, but the one we went to did not have a tasting room so we ventured back out and headed to Laxabakki Hotel. After we checked in, we hopped in the sauna to warm up, ate a big bowl of spaghetti and watched the Rings of Power on Amazon Prime. Shawn got up in the middle of the night to see if he could see the Northern Lights, but didn't have much luck.

We planned the day around lunch. Is that weird? We found a little restaurant on a horse farm, Lýsuhóll, that sounded worth the planning and we wanted to be there at 11:30a when they opened (only open for lunch). We headed up to 'mini-Iceland' and planned to have a day of driving and pit stops for sights. Following the Earth Trekkers itinerary for the day, we mostly figure-8ed around the peninsula. Our first stop was Kirkufell, and we got some great photos with the blue sky and clouds behind the mountain. Just a truly great spot for photographers at any time of day. After paying a modest parking fee, we headed down to Búðir to see the black church and we meandered along the beach for a bit until we shot out of there to get to lunch. We didn't have a reservation, but the bus that had was delayed so they accommodated us to an all-you-can eat buffet of fresh fish (caught the day before), a vegetarian tikka masala, salad, bread, rice, coffee, tea and dessert. We ate alongside the farm staff who were a lively bunch at their table. The hostess was so cute! And boy could she cook. Eventually the tour bus showed up and we chatted with a couple from France and some ladies from Henderson NC before we headed out with full bellies and happy hearts. One of our best experiences in Iceland.

We ventured back out into the National Park with stops at Rauðfeldsgjá Ravine, Arnstappi (cool natural bridges and basalt columns), Lóndrangar Cliffs, Djúpalónssandur Beach and took the walk to Dritvík Cove. The beaches were smooth black pebbles so we took some for the kids. We continued along to Hellisander and drove around looking at the street art. This place looks like an up and coming town, lots of construction. Next we stopped at Olafsvik at the Vinbudin for more Icelandic beer before heading back to our hotel and watching more Rings of Power. No dinner needed since we were still full from lunch :). We packed up and prepared for the next day's hike followed by our flight.

On the morning of our last day in Iceland, we celebrated the excellent weather we'd had all week. I'd planned to hike either Glymur (if we wanted another foss) or Mt Esja (if we were sick of all the fosses). The Glymur hike looked a little more fun and our faces were a little wind-burned, so we chose Glymur and it was an excellent choice. The trailhead was a quick 30 minute drive from our lodging and there were only 2 other cars in the lot (when we finished, the lot was full!). The hike round trip is about 4.5 miles, 1400 ft total elevation gain and was beautiful. The first 30 minutes or so was easy ramble along the river until we reached a really cool cave. Next we had a sweet river crossing rock hopping and shimmying along a log before ascending up to the tallest foss in Iceland, yet another stunner.

At this point, you can either head back down the trail you came up, or ford the river above the falls. Naturally, I wanted Option B. Crossing a river above a waterfall seems like a terrible idea but the river is very shallow and the ford is quite far above the falls, so it is safe. We took off our shoes and socks and Shawn took the lead. Halfway across he was screeching about how cold it was and that he wasn't sure I could do it. Well... because he said that, of course I can. Halfway across, I could not feel my feet AT ALL, but I had to just keep going forward. I made it and luckily the circulation came back pretty quickly. We redressed and descended the easy trail down the canyon with really beautiful views of the canyon and autumn colors. The hike took us a little under 3 hours in total with lots of picture stops and was a lot of fun.

Since I had budgeted 4 hours of time, we had an hour to kill so we headed into Reykjavik to the Hallgrímskirkja church. We walked around the Neighborhood of the Gods and thought maybe we should have spend more time here - clean and quiet city. Really nice. We headed to the airport and had a smooth flight home! Cheers to another great trip :)