Iceland Day Four- Svalbardshreppur

All Is Good

Ridiculous..is our luck…another bluebird day that was already warm enough for t-shirts only at 10:00AM and not a breath of air out on the fjord.

Jenny said she wished I had woke her when the bunny came by to say hi last night but I know it was better that I didn’t and allowed her to get caught up on her sleep.

Neither one of us were very hungry but we enjoyed our coffee on the deck looking out at the view, basking in the warm morning sun.

I knew today was going to be a fairly long travel day with planned stops so there was no lollygagging around this morning. We drove into Akureyi, the second largest city in Iceland, and immediately saw two enormous cruise ships which meant we were due to run into hordes of people; the good news was we had no plans to spend any time here except to pick up some more provisions and to fill up the tank. Jenny did ask to detour quickly to the church there (it is architecturally unique) and because it was open we went inside and ended up lighting a candle for my dad. The simplicity of the church was striking in comparison to the European churches we have come accustomed to when traveling – it actually reminded me more of a Congregational church back home.

We loved that the stop lights in Akureyi use hearts for the red lights – so sweet and such a nice gesture – just something that makes you smile.

Once leaving Akureyi, most people take the new 7.5 km tunnel that was built in order to avoid the mountain pass that is very difficult to travel during the winter time. But I had read that on a clear day, the views from the pass were to die for and since, up to this point, we had had our fair share of driving through the mountains, we decided that today we would drive over the mountains. I can see why this pass would be a not so wise choice in the winter but today, it was stellar!

Thirty minutes later we pulled into Godafoss waterfall and made the short hike to the look out. As our first real close up of an immense Icelandic waterfall, they were certainly worth the stop.

From here we were going to take a detour, down to see some more waterfalls that Billy had actually emailed us about but after starting down the dirt road, we were concerned that the road to the falls was what they call an “F Road” and had not yet opened for the season so we decided it best to abort the mission and turn around.

We continued east towards Myvtan Lake where we made a stop for a picnic lunch, along the shore – with a view that could not be beat.

A few more of our scheduled stops were located jus past this area in Krafla, an area which has a a lot of geothermal activity and an intense overwhelming smell of sulphur.

Stop one was Grotagjla Cave, a quick stop that was unique in the sense it was another new geological feature I had not experienced before. The cave is basically a few steps below ground with a hot water pool in the bottom – apparently for centuries it was used as a bathing site until recently, when the water heated up more so to a temperature that was not suitable for humans to enter. This location too also played a role in Game of Thrones.

Next up was Hverir – an area full of bubbling mud pots and steam vents, where the smell almost knock us off our feet. The wild thing about this area was the entire hillside had steam emanating from it at one spot or another.

We then headed to Leirhnjúkur, passing through a large geothermal plant before reaching the parking area.

The trail started off with us trudging through still present snow drifts and across wooden boardwalks that kept you off the fragile areas. We were not actually too sure what we were going to see but I had chosen it as one of the stops out of the many recommended that I thought would interest us. As we climbed up we arrived at a platform that was overlooking a fairly large colorful thermal pool. From there, we continued the march uphill until we reached an area of hardened magma with steam pouring forth from countless cracks and fissures – these lava fields stretched as far as the eye could see in some directions. Again, a new experience actually walking along a still active volcano – though it last erupted in 1984, concluding a continual ten year eruption cycle. The total hike up and around was maybe 3 miles with incredible scenery and views the entire time.

From the top of Leirhnjükur, we could see a collapsed volcano crater across the valley with a parking lot and walkway leading to the rim. A quick detour here proved to be rather unique as well, as the crater was filled with a beautiful teal colored lake that was still holding some winter ice.

Back down through the geothermal plant and on to Vatnajökull National Park we drove, to see Dettifoss waterfall, one of the most powerful waterfalls in Europe with a drop of 144 feet. The drive there was literally a moonscape – nothing but dark ground with large rocks scattered about. After a short 1/2 mile hike, you could begin to hear the thunderous roar of the falls and before we knew it we were on top of the falls where we were very lucky in that the rainbows were out in full force with all the sunshine we had.

From here we headed North through the most uninhabited landscape we had encountered yet; we drove for two hours and except for the car we followed almost the whole way, we passed one other vehicle and not one place of life until we came within a few miles of our turnoff. Our place of habitation for the evening was an absolutely adorable tiny cottage on a sheep farm that was way off the beaten path – Jenny had asked to do Iceland without the crowds as much as possible – and today we ran into a fair amount of people (mostly tour groups) but tonight- it was us, and the sheep and a friendly cat and a view that is beyond words, in the middle of freaking nowhere – so much so I got a text from my mom at 10:00 PM (who has access to our location via our linked Apple accounts) that said, “It looks like you girls are in the middle of nowhere. I hope that’s not true.”
I responded to her, “Oh, it’s true alright…but all is good.”

For sure… all is good!