Highland adventures

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After some consideration, we booked a tour of the south-central highlands in a super jeep. We kept wanting to go into the highland areas while we were driving, but were unable due to those F roads. Also, you sometimes have to ford a creek/river, and there was no way we could do that in our little Focus. So, off we went yesterday morning. It was another fun-filled day with some stunning sights. On our way to Landmannalauger, we made a few stops. The waterfalls at Hjalparfoss are lovely, and the surrounding rocks are interesting. They´ve been shaped into more linear forms. One section looks like the cross-section of a beehive. We saw one of the most visually stunning areas on this trip. The driver started cutting up onto this one track to 'the secret place' as he put it. I guess only some of the guides know about this spot, and they´re trying to not publicize it. (Could be true, or could just be what he says so we think it´s even more special). It is a gorgeous canyon with this shocking blue glacial water and small waterfalls running down the side of the canyon. Absolutely gorgeous.

Our drive to Landmannalauger is on an unpaved road, some patches are rougher than others. We did cross a few creeks. It´s just fun to do, especially when the water splashes up on the windows. We didn´t see any wildlife except for some birds. While we drove through some gorgeous areas, we also passed through some desolate ones - the remains of lava explosions, so it´s just ash and pumice, or the remains of the retreating glaciers. Really dark and black areas for stretches of driving. Other stops included a few craters with striking red rocks and dirt. We stopped near Hekla, one of the volcanoes.

Landmannalauger is a base camp for several hiking tracks. The hills in the surrounding area are multicolored and lovely to view. They area is rich in rhyolite, so you see a spectrum of colors. Mainly light browns and yellows, but the occasional green or blue tossed in the mix. It is also another geothermal area, so you see wisps of steam coming from the ground. Near the base camp, there is a hot pot which I imagine is lovely to soak in at the end of a day of hiking. They whole area by the hot pot is marshy, and the little bits of water flowing to the hot pot area are bubbling because the water is that hot. You can see the bubbles emerging from the ground and flowing to the top on the water. It is a marvelous area to visit. I'm very glad I had the time to take the day trip.

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