Iceland: Solheimajokull

The next day was clear and beautiful

So we went to a glacier.

Solheimajokull, to be precise.  It is a little outshoot on the southern side of the Myrdalsjokull icecap

Just to be clear, while I am trying to correctly spell the names of all these places for the blog, I absolutely cannot pronounce them.  It is awesome to hear an Icelander or even our Polish glacier guide use the names in passing "back a few years ago when the volcano erupted under Eyjafjallajökull..." and it sound like a reasonable word that I might possibly say someday.  And then I would try myself and it is a disaster. At any rate, Solheimajokull.  We met our guide, strapped on some crampons, and hiked on up.

We saw a lot of these black ice cones.  Apparently the debris from the volcano serves to insulate the ice, so the ice under the dirt melts last (resulting in the cones).  Our guide also told us that the early settlers to Iceland were afraid to come up onto the glaciers, because they were convinced these were trolls.  I believe it.

We checked out a cave,

Took a drink from a glacial stream

And tried to soak in the view and landscape as much as possible.  We saw several waterfalls created by the melting ice (melting both because of the warming climate and because we were there at the height of summer).  In some areas, the ice had split into deep crevasses and you could see layers from different years.  In the picture below there is some newer white ice on top of darker older ice (it's ice + ash, not rock on the bottom half). You can also see a waterfall coming out from the break

The shapes of the melting ice were surreally beautiful

Our hike was three hours total, about two going up (since we kept going off-track to explore interesting features in the ice) and one going back.  At the top of the hike we could see all the way to Myrdalsjokull.

And then we headed back down to the valley.

Definitely one the coolest things we've ever done so far.

Iceland: Sea stacks at Vik

With waves

With statue

With Americans

Iceland: Dyrhólaey and a bunch of cool rocks

We went to the beach at Reynisdrangar, which had views of Dyrhólaey (below).

Quite spectacular, all around.

And now that we have established that the landscape was astonishing basically whichever way you looked, let's talk about the rocks.

So many different cool-looking rocks, all melted into each other

It's like just when you wrap your head around the huge flat sandstone-like ones stuck right in the middle of the pokey basalt-type ones you notice the smooth white ones in the front that are each the size of a manatee.

After visiting Iceland I can totally understand why someone would want to be a geologist.

Anyway.

About the basalt columns... 

It's hard to convey the scale of these things.  

Oh and did I mention the sand is black?

Along the caves and the edges of the paths, there were all these little rock piles.  

We saw them here first, but they kept popping up again and again as we visited different places.  I guess a kind of graffiti that doesn't involve actually damaging anything.

This one's ours. :)

Iceland: Skógafoss

Next, we continued down the road to Skógafoss.

This was a big one.

Oh, and the view back toward the coast wasn't bad either.

Skógafoss is also neat because there are a ton of stairs up the side that let you go near the top.  You can then take a few days hike up to a pass between two glaciers.

 We took the stairs and were rewarded with the view.

Hey, look up there in the upper left, it's a glacier!

And a sheep!

Iceland: first waterfalls

After the lagoon we headed to Reykjavik.  We walked around the city and ate dinner at a fish shack.  It was awesome, as you may expect.  After one night in Reykjavik, we started down the coast to Vik, stopping at some waterfalls.

Our first Iceland roadside attraction experience was Urriðafoss.  In Iceland, a small white and red sign on the side of the road alerts you to an attraction.  You then turn off of the main road onto a small gravel road and follow for some number of kilometers.  There is often a sign telling you about the geology and history of the area.  And then if it's a small attraction, it's just... there.  No fuss.  With maybe a gravel pad for a few cars.  This was the case with Urriðafoss, where we just walked up and took some pictures.

Apparently this waterfall is expected to disappear if current plans to build hydropower facilities upstream are executed.  We were happy to get to see it.

Also, it was really windy.

Next we headed down the road and saw Gljúfurárfoss (on the left, below) and Seljalandsfoss (on the right).

This landscape is clearly older than the area near the blue lagoon - look at all those wildflowers and plants!  After the volcano erupts, the lava hardens into rocks.  Moss grows on the rocks, and over thousands of years builds up and breaks down enough to form dirt.  Which then can grow grass and wildflowers.  And sheep.

That picture seems to be the only one I have where you see both waterfalls in the same shot, but it certainly doesn't show you how huge they were.  Let's try this one of Seljalandsfoss instead...

These were what we found to be typical of the larger type of Iceland tourist attraction.  Same tiny white and red sign, same gravel road, but then a larger parking lot, a bit of infrastructure (e.g. stairs or railings, maybe even bathrooms) and plenty of other tourists.  

Also, you can really get up close to things.  At Seljalandsfoss we got to walk this little path behind the waterfall.

Again, the picture may be neat but doesn't at all communicate how loud it was back there.  There was really a lot of water.

Also typical of Iceland attractions, there was a small, slippery path with no signage, walls, guardrails, or really anything to prevent people from hurting themselves other than the general atmosphere of all the other tourists who were generally polite, neat, and following what one would expect to be the rules.  Clearly the litigation culture in Iceland is different from the US.

But it sure was spectacular.  Check out the red and green moss on the underside of the falls...

After going under Seljalandsfoss we walked over to Gljúfurárfoss and climbed up some grassy hills to get a closer look at some tiny (and as far as I know unnamed) falls.  Also we found this little hut, with some old hydropower equipment.

The sign says 1927, which if I remember correctly makes it at least 7 years younger than the equipment that is still running at Eagle Falls, NY.

Iceland: hot springs

Phew, that was a nice blogging break, huh?  At any rate, as you may recall, at the beginning of this month Chad and I went to Iceland.  It was amazing, spectacularly beautiful and unlike any place I have ever seen.  Also, pretty good beer.

We arrived in the morning and went to soak in a hot spring called the blue lagoon.

I know!  Can you believe this place is real?  The water really was that color.  And kind of shimmery and steamy.  And it was a windy day so there would be these puffs of steam floating across the lava rocks.  The cool, windy weather made swimming in the hot spring very comfortable as long as we stayed closer to the spring sources where the water was hot.

We soaked in the swimming area for a good long while and then had some lunch and walked around the rocks.  The swimming area was full of people, but the surrounding landscape was pretty empty and with lots more geothermal pools.

In addition to the water, in this area the rock itself was unlike any I have seen before.  Miles and miles of fields of lava rock, some of it old enough to be covered in moss and occasionally a bit of dirt or grass.

More Iceland pictures to come!

The Boss

Conversation at dinner last night:

Eva: I'm the boss of my friends

Noah: that's not nice

Eva: [shrugs] it's true

Noah: even if they're not here it's still not nice to say

Eva: they would feel sad if I told them that so I won't tell them but [shrugs again] I'm still the boss of them.

May I remind you the child is three years old?

Also, I am 100% sure she is right.