The Land of Fire and Ice

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Hello Everyone,

It's been quite some time since I've revisted the travel journal; but I have set off alone for the great land of Iceland and the midnight sun. I've always wanted to visit Iceland, I'm not sure why but for some reason it has always spoken to me. Reykjavik is the northernmost capital in the world and quite possibly the most expensive. The cuntryside is where it's at though; waterfalls, mountains, volcano's, geothermal hot spots, glaciers, the midnight sun, wildlife, lava fields, etc.

Day One

I arrived in Reykjavik early Friday morning with all intentions of having a nice relaxing day at the Blue Lagoon with my supervisor, Beth. I know it's pretty random but we definietly have the same vacation mojo. There was just one little crink in that glourious plan! I had only gotten about 45-1 hour of sleep the past night. I thought that taking the overnight flight into Iceland would at least allow me to get some sleep but no; I had the seat directly in front of the restrooms. Every time I came remotely close to falling asleep someone would either slam the bathroom door, trip over my feet, or elbow me in the face. So needless to say I was just a bit tired when I arrived in Iceland. In fact every time I propped myself down somewhere remotely comfortble I would fall fast asleep. I missed my bus into Reykjavik because I fell asleep in a very comfotable waiting room at the airport. When I finally did get on the bus, I slept all the way into the city and then to top it off I took a nap for an hour in my supervisor's hotel room. But I was finally ready to face the world and head to the Blue Lagoon. The lagoon itself was really beautiful; the water was so warm and electric blue. The warm water relaxed my muscles and allowed me to fell somewhat human. While I was waiting for the next bus (since I missed the one I was orginally planning to take) I took a lovely hike around the blue lagoon. It was so serene to see all the lava fields surrounding the mineral baths. I then hopped back onto a bus back into the city to meet my group.

Day Two

On our second day we headed to Thingvellir National Park and the sites of the Golden Circle. This National Park's claim to fame is that it is where the oldest parliament occurred every year since 930 AD. In addition to be the spot in which the North American and European Continents split. It was very lush and green and it was nice to take a stroll around the park checking it out. At one point you can literally stand in the middle of the abyss between North America and Europe. Next we headed to the Golden Circle which is an area of Southern Iceland that is filled with amazing waterfalls, geysirs, mud pots, volcanoes, and moutains. We were just in time to see the giant Geysir blow! Of course I was standing right next to the Geysir trying to get a great photo when the thing erupted and I could have sworn that all that hot water was coming straight for me. So I let out a shriek and ran away. Of course the water came nowhere near me and I embarrassed myself for no reason! We continued on to our overnight stop in a small town on the southern coast.

Day Three

The next day was spent on the Southern Coast of Iceland. The coast was breathtaking! I had never seen black sand beaches before and it was quite a site. The surf was pretty rough and the darkness of the sand gave the whole beach a very moody look. It was pouring rain but I tried to make the best of it and take a nice long stroll down the beach. I have never been so drenched in all my life but it was defineitly worth it in the end. We also stopped to do a couple of hikes to different waterfalls in the area. There was one that was really cool becuase you could walk behind the falls for a different perpestive. At the point I had seen more waterfalls in three days than I probably have in the past 3 years. The day ended with the drive to the Skatafell National Park area. The drive was amazing; we went from the lush, green southern coast to stark lava fields to majestic moutains and tons of glaciers.

Day Four

The next two days were spent hiking through the National Park. We started on Monday morning with a visit to Puffin Island; a nature reserve off the coast. We had to all climb into the hybrid tractor thing to take us out to the island. Once we were there we realized that we were going to have to hike/scramble up the sides of some pretty daunting cliffs. This was an expereince all in itself. It was raining pretty hard at this point so the trail was ridicouly muddy and dangerously close to the edge. You could never really get all that great of a handle on the rocks so your best bet was just to clammber up them as fast as you could so that you wouldn't slip to your death. Thankfully everyone made it up safely and we hiked around the entire island. It was probably one of my favorite things of the entire trip. The island itself is a nature reserve for all different kinds of sea birds; puffins, skua's, arctic tern's, etc. This time of year is there nesting period so there were just tons of birds everywhere. The view was amazing. On top of the island you could see the beach below and the moutains and glaciers in the distance. There was one part of the hike where we all had to stay together on one narrow patch of trail because they were somany nests around us that if we veered even in the slightest we were going to be attacked by the angry mobs of birds that were closely watching our progress. Somehow our tour guide was separated from the group and accidently stepped off the path. She ended up being swarmed by birds and divebombed by a couple of great skua's. She started running and waving her hands int he air so that way they would attack her arms and not her head! She made it through though unscathed and it provided some comic relief for the rest of the group.

Then we headed to the National Park for some lovely hiking! I decided to do a nice hike up to one of the most beuitful waterfalls in all of Iceland according to our tour guide. Steffi also said that it was a pretty easy hike that was really steep at first but then leveled out, she wasn't sure how far it was but she assured us it wasn't that bad. We had already done about 4 miles of hiking that morning at Puffin Island so we were hoping some some respite. However, the Icelanders have a very different definition of what not that long and not that steep is. The hike was about 3 1/2 miles long and completly uphill the entire time! I thought I was going to die! By some act of god I made it to Svartifoss waterfall but my knees were screaming at me the entire way down this mountain. After that I decided I needed a nice flat hike to round out the day. So I discovered a nice level litttle path that lead to the face of the Vatnajokull glacier tongue. It was so beautiful that I was at a loss for words standing in front of this massive, creaking, slab of ice!

Day Five

The next morning we started off bright and early with some sunshine for the first time in a couple of days which worked out perfectly because we went kayaking on Jorkularson Lagoon. The lagoon was created in the 70's when there was a small flood from under the glacier and created the lagoon overnight. One of the Vatnajokull glacial tongues calves off into the lagoon so we kayaked around all the icebergs. It was so amazing, the icebergs were so imposing that I felt as small as an ant next to them. Apparently there were scenes for Lara Croft Tomb Radier and James Bond Die Another Day filmed at the lagoon. After kayaking we hiked through the lava fields that were created in the 1780's which apparently in the most recent lava field created in all of Europe. The difference in the landscape was startling. It felt like we were on a different planet; the lava was as far as the eye could see with the mountains and glaciers far off in the distance. The rest of the afternoon and evening was pretty relaxing; we hit up the Skogar Folk Musuem and did a couple of small hikes. The Folk Musuem was interesting and it provided some good history lessons on the settlement of Iceland. It also had a preserved village in the traditional turf stlye home that was common until the 1940's. However, my favorite part of the day was a hike to the an amazing canyon in the middle of the countryside. We were hiking through these lush, green hills with no other people or noise anywhere when the canyon appeared. It was just a slice right into the hillside and it totally took me by surprise. It was gorgeous, I could have stayed there all day long. We also hiked to some waterfalls in the area and it was about this time that I really started to get waterfalled out! Iceland has a lot of waterfalls! We finished the day off by enjoying some natural hot springs which were beyond glorious.

Later that night I was relaxng on the porch of my little cabin nestled in the mountains when I saw the most beautiful group of wild Icelandic horses grazing on the hillside. Of course I meanered over to hava little photo shoot. The wild horses tolerated me being in their presence but would move away if I ventured remotely close to them. But then there was this one horses all on it's own in a fenced in area, he looked quite sad. He made his way down to me and let me feed him some grass and pet his mane. The horses were beatuiful and very unique looking. THe Icelandic horse had flourished in such isolation with no intermingling on other breeds that they are unlike all other horses on the planet. I must have chilled with the horse for about 2 hours before I had to pry myself away to hit the sack. Sleeping was an interesting experience since the sun never did set and it remained really light outside all night long. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the baaaaaaiinnnng of sheep that roamed all over the countryside.


The next portion of our trip was focused in the north east and northwest of the country. I'll add another entry of our escpaades as soon as I get a chance.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

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Photos

Thingvellir National Park
This is the rift between the North American and European Continents