Iceland 6: An ice beach and a glacier hike with ice caves

Today was our last full day of activities.  It rained all day, but never very heavy.  Wind was on the low side at least.  Be began with a one hour drive to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.  This popular tourist spot is a beach filled with tons of pieces of ice, in all shapes and sizes.  Miles had ab absolute ball.  Even after we had arrived back at the bus, when he found out that we had seven minutes left, he went outside to play.



We took a brief stop to get hot chocolate and then a short drive later and we were dropped off to prepare to hike the glacier at Vatnajökull National Park to see two natural, small ice caves.  I brought our waterproof pants and Miles had a waterproof jacket.  Unfortunately, my jacket didn't prove to be entirely waterproof, and our gloves definitively weren't!

We took a huge vehicle to the site, traversing a dirt road and then a REALLY dirt road, bouncing back and forth in the massive truck.  We arrived and split into two groups.  Our guide was fantastic and took extra care with Miles, having him stay in the front of the line, just behind him, and even holding his hands in the steeper sections.

After just a short while, we stopped and were given crampons to put our boots into.  Crampons are a metal outer structure that you step into with your shoes and then secure.  They allow you to stamp the spikes into the ice to make sure you don't fall.  While walking on the slanted ice it was bizarre because my brain was telling me that I should be falling down and then sliding uncontrollably, but the crampons kept me in place.




We walked to a very small natural ice cave, which had a handful of lights inside.  I was able to take my cameras safely out of their bags at this point, to take some pictures.



We exited the cave where we came in and proceeded up the glacier until we had a nice view of the surrounding area.  I took out my camera for some very quick pictures before drying it off and putting it right away.  There were many opportunities for great pictures that I just had to skip due to the rain.  One of these moments was just after I had finished putting my camera away, when a raven decided to land just a few feet from us.  Our guide informed us that there are a pair of ravens that stay near the glacier and had learned to follow the people so they could feed on any scraps of food left behind after snacks.  He made a reference to Odin's ravens.



When we first began the hike, I was worried about my cameras getting wet, but as my waterlogged clothes got heavier, I started worrying more about my pants falling down!  We walked down the glacier and around to a second ice cave.  This one was a little more spacious, but not by much.



We hiked just a little farther until we were back where we started.  We returned to our hotel, took showers, and then went out with 3 other fellow tour goers and the tour guide himself for dinner at a nice restaurant nearby.  I had a pasta with squash and pesto sauce.  It was an interesting dinner, with the tour guide again showing that he could be a bit wise, have some interesting Icelandic opinions, but also a bit old fashioned.  Although a bit awkward at times, I still enjoyed myself and Miles enjoyed himself and involved himself in the conversations!

Iceland 5: A hasty tour of mostly waterfalls

We began our second tour by being picked up by a gruff, older man.  Picking up other people was fairly smooth, however we did have to make a brief stop on the way to our first destination in order to pick up a trailer for him to store the luggage and to pick up a piece of equipment that was forgotten. 

We first stopped at Thingvellir National Park.  The driver seemed impatient as I chose my camera gear and was waving us to, I guess, run to the group to catch up.  I simply kept walking.  Luckily he seemed to have eased up after this.  We looked around at the interesting rock formations and walked along the path between two tectonic plates.



Next, we made a five minute stop to examine the fault line, I believe it was.



Geysir hot springs was up next.  The biggest geyser was ruined years ago by human interference, and so they leave this smaller one along.  It blows every 7 minutes or so.  Some of the expulsions were quite mild, but one was larger.  I was trying different camera settings and finally found one that worked, but it blew larger than I had expected.



Gulfoss Falls was the next stop and this massive set of waterfalls were stunning.  There were a few views but I liked this one best.



We eventually came to Seljalandsfoss, a set of three waterfalls.  You normally can hike behind the waterfalls, but due to deadly ice that could hang on the cave ceiling, that part was barred off.



We made an unscheduled stop at what looked like a small town, I believe the driver spoke of the significance of the volcano located here.  In any case, it was picturesque and the sunset on the other side was just as nice.



Since the weather was so clear, we made a final tourist stop at Skogafoss.  I couldn't decide on which picture to use, so I posted both.  The ground was quite icey, but the ice made the area likely even more beautiful than it normally would be.  There were a set of steps going up the mountain to the top of the falls and I decided to go.  Happily, Miles came with me despite reluctance.  The views from the top were very nice.  I am glad we had this little moment to ourselves.



We stopped at a supermarket before going to our countryside hotel just east of the town of Vik.  We had some good conversation on the bus with fellow passengers.  I ended up at  the restaurant to drink coffee.  I asked if they had any skyr.  They said yes.  I was expecting the yogurt that was brought to me a few days prior.  Instead, it was a cake, which funnily enough, was what my first guide wanted me to try.  I asked our current guide about this discrepancy, and he informed me that Skyr encompasses a wide range of products.  I joked with Miles that if the marshmallows he bought at the supermarket said Skyr, it could have tasted like pizza or bacon for all we knew.

Iceland 4: The Lego Church, odd sculptures, and another attempt at the Northern Lights.

Yesterday was a day of recovery.  Or for me, a lot of discomfort.  For some reason my health problems were acting up.  By around 2:00, I forced us out to see the two items in town that most intrigued me.  The first one being the most obvious, Hallgrimskirkja, the church that the town is known for having.  It was beautiful.



Right next door is a small sculpture garden.  It had some pretty odd sculptures, so I loved it, although it was a bit small.  I wished there were more of them.



We went out at night for our second attempt at seeing the northern lights.  This trip went more smoothly, with a clear sky.  As soon as we exited the vehicle, parked fairly far away from the lights of the city, we noticed the band across the sky.  To our eyes it appeared like a band of white cloud.  The camera revealed more colors.  Despite reading up on how to photograph the northern lights, ad previously visiting the museum, it took a while before I was able to get good images.  Unfortunately for me, the first ten minutes had the most activity.  Here are some out of focus pictures of when it was most colorful.



The driver then commented that some people went onto the beach for reflections of the lights in the water.  Miles returned to the bus for warmth and to play on his tablet while I ventured by myself down to the beach.  The beach was brief, before becoming seaweed infested wet rocks.  I used my tripod as a walking stick to slowly make my way to the water.  Over the next hour I took many pictures and tried many different combinations of settings.  The pictures turned out very nice, but there wasn't much movement of the lights within that hour.



For these final two pictures, I aimed a little bit upward to include the big dipper that I saw the night before, but this time with northern lights!