Iceland - Part II of IV - South Ring Road

We found a campground nearby, parked in the grass, made some dinner of tuna, rice, and sriracha, and then steeled ourselves for the next morning...

As I was doing some research a few weeks prior around deciding where to go, I learned that there was an active eruption happening on the Reykjanes peninsula. This fact definitely swayed us to come visit -- we had never seen an actively erupting volcano before.

And so our alarm went off at 12am, and we blearily climbed down the freezing aluminum ladder and prepared to hike up to the volcano, see the lava in the darkness, and then watch the sun rise. An epic itinerary.

We drove to the trailhead and parked, finding it totally empty. Which was weird, because we had driven by the day before and seen it full. We assumed other intrepid travelers would be as dedicated/insane as we were, especially given the exciting subject matter. We gathered our things and left the car, emerging into the freezing cold -- and then thought better of it -- before jumping back in and looking at each other with strong misgiving.

We sat in the darkness. About 15 minutes later another car pulled in! Someone else as crazy as we were! We watched as they idled for a few minutes and then drove away??? This was curious, but did not alert me to anything amiss. I'll chalk up the confusion due to the early hour of 2:30am.

We finally gathered our remaining ounces of fortitude and began the walk uphill in the night. We had to wander around for a little bit to find the trailhead, but eventually did, and we set off. Fortunately, since the trail was so heavily travelled, the path was mostly free of debris and there was huge directional signage the entire way.

The stars shone in the moonless night overhead.

As we neared the top the signage began to include reflectors and blinking lights -- and we could see why. It had begun to snow and there was a thick fog blanketing the area, making navigation a little more difficult than normal.

As we reached the point that should have been the edge of the crater and supposedly lava -- we started to wonder. Why couldn't we see any? We wandered around in the snow and fog, trying to locate anything that resembled the fiery glow of molten rock.

We sat down and ate some bacon while we weighed our options. (We had come prepared today!)

I pulled out my phone but remembered we had no cellular data and certainly no cellular service. So we walked back down, disappointed, made it back to the car, and then drove back to the campground we had stayed at the night before. I took a long hot shower before climbing back into the tent in the pre-dawn dusk. We quickly connected to the wi-fi and googled -- what was the volcano doing???

It turns out that the volcano had stopped erupting weeks prior -- after I had finished researching and booking the tickets to Iceland!

...

We woke up several hours later and could only laugh.

Today, we would be returning our 4x4 and exchanging it for a Ford Fiesta! The 4x4 had cost 1,000EUR for 9 days and the Fiesta-but-not-Numa only cost $630 for 3 weeks.

We drove back to near the airport and rode a shuttle to the other car rental place. We went in a little early and learned that our car wasn't ready yet -- but they could give us a different one. We didn't care, and accepted the replacement. It was even more beat up than the 4x4 -- rusted, dented, and heavily scratched.

We also learned that there was a major forecasted windstorm coming through the next day and into Sunday. The lady at the desk told us we had better cancel our plans and stay home.

So we headed to our studio rental in Reykjavik (after stopping at the mall to buy more wool hats as gifts) and sat down for two days -- skipping over what we had planned in the capital as we'd have a little time at the end to come back to see it. The storm ended up not being as severe on this side of the island (we could have gone out sightseeing one afternoon but had recently washed all of our clothes (in the sink) and only had wet pants! But it was nice to rest indoors.

On the way out we drove through the capital just to take a look, and found a lot of really unique architecture. The Nordic style is so boldly geometric, and often features the same materials used as wall and roof. I hypothesized that some of this is informed by the only collectively remembered remnants of the vernacular turf roof and earth sheltered architecture we had seen, when the walls and roof appeared as merely a fold in the landscape. Conjecture!

On the third morning we packed up and headed to Thingvellir National Park. As we drove in, we noticed our car being photographed, like going through a contactless toll. It was still windy today, and as soon as we got out of the car we realized it was too windy to go walking around, so we left. We worried about getting charged extravagantly by the rental company for the parking lot so we paid online after even though we were only there for five minutes.

Then we headed back to Reykjavik to go visit the Iceland Phallological Museum, which I was quite looking forward to. When we got there though we couldn't find parking and realized it was $20 a person for tickets... so we bailed on that, too.

Then we thought about buying a meal but when I found a menu to a place I could eat at, we found $25 burgers... so we left empty handed and headed to Selfoss.

We got to the guesthouse a little early for check-in but made friends with the two resident dogs in the warm common area while we waited. The guy at the front desk was from Poland and recognized my name. Not too long later our room was ready, and it was cozy AF, complete with warm wool blankets and a sunny window. We were in the budget building, so we had access to a shared kitchen and bathrooms, which was nice. I loved taking hot showers and not worrying about the water running out for the next person...

In the morning we headed to Brúarfoss, yet another waterfall at the end of a river which turned out to have multiple waterfalls along the way. This and several other nearby sights make up Iceland's 'Golden Circle'; a 300km loop that contains most of the top touristed attractions.

The trail was a bit muddy, thawing in the sun from a freeze overnight.

But it was a beautiful clear morning, and hardly anyone was on the trail.

We passed a beautiful small waterfall that had ice coating its edges, which I felt compelled to photograph from many angles.

Satisfied, we continued along the river, and found even more stunningly blue water amongst the brown of the surrounding landscape.

Before long we reached the end of the trail -- and found a small overlook, and the waterfall we had been walking for. The scale was much smaller than we expected as the most popular photos of this place on the internet crop out much of the context. What looked to be perhaps 30' high falls were really only about 10'.

It was still beautiful.

We headed back towards our car and onward to our next destination -- to see Geysir, the ORIGINAL geyser! Yes, another loan word from our Viking past.

There was a whole huge tourist set up here, complete with adjacent expensive resort. We parked near a visitor center and headed out to the geothermal field.

We found Geysir right near the front and stood, waiting for it to erupt -- which was supposed to happen every 5 or 6 minutes.

We didn't feel like standing around though so we decided to head up the hill for a better view and hopefully catch the geyser in action.

Yes! Right on time. It wasn't very impressive though, especially after having been to Yellowstone...

The views from atop the hill were good too.

After that we headed to Gulfoss, which was unbelievable. This also had a whole huge tourist center and was very busy. The waterfall was gigantic, spanning hundreds of feet. It was cold and windy so we elected to not walk down into the mist.

I wanted to get a long exposure but the mist, wind, and unusual shape made it difficult!

The nearby resort was done up in the typical Icelandic modern style. We checked out the gift shop which was full of expensive handmade goods. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!

We left and continued on.

One more stop -- a notable piece of architecture -- Skálholtsdómkirkja, the tallest church in Iceland. There was only one other car in the lot and it was picture perfect. There used to be unique contemporary sculptures outside but they were missing when we were there.

We took a peek inside and appreciated the spare simplicity of the interior, all the way down to the perfect chairs.

Around back we saw some interpretive signage, which led us to a tunnel leading into the darkness...

It turned out to be the remains of an old turf house, and we got our first taste of how Icelandic settlers had survived the cold, dark winters here for hundreds of years. The walls were turf, several feet thick -- sliced to a module from the ground and stacked to form walls. I looked at the turf closely and thought I saw a lot of wool-like fibers, which must have been plant material OR the turf was pulled from fields were sheep graze? Conjecture!

Just inside was a long stone-lined hallway, which must have served as a weather vestibule. The space beyond that had the exposed turf at the walls and were almost an-echoic, due to how absorptive turf walls are. It was many degrees warmer inside than out and we could immediately tell how efficient the walls were at retaining heat and blocking the wind. I didn't get any pictures because there were no lights in the interior.

We left and headed back to Selfoss for the evening, stopping at one more waterfall along the way.

In the morning, I woke up ill from something I had contracted most likely from the hot spring... so we headed to the nearby medical center -- which was no easy feat to find! Outside of the capitol there were much fewer people and much less infrastructure, including medical centers.

Fortunately, there was one in Selfoss. We walked in, I told them the situation, and they said they couldn't see me until 4pm. Well -- shit. We had other plans for today.

So we discussed and decided to continue east on the Ring Road, turn around, come back to see the doctor, then continue on to where we had already booked to stay the night. It was a lot of driving but I was suffering, so it had to be done...

We stopped first at Reynisfjara Beach, famous for its basalt column action and for 'sneaker waves' which have periodically swept unsuspecting tourists out to sea to their deaths.

There was a huge warning sign describing the rogue waves that will come ashore much higher than the regular surf, and much more violently. Never turn your back on the ocean, the sign said.

Fortunately, we had timed our visit correctly with a near low tide.

We walked out onto the broad beach which was again, very busy. As we walked we caught several sneaker waves come in -- indeed much more dramatically than the regular waves, and could see why there was a huge warning.

First, we walked by a huge natural arch created by the columns. As we continued on, the shapes and geometries morphed -- the columns deforming; changing color; and changing orientation and size.

We found several other landscape photographers here, setting up their tripod in the tidal zone and then picking up and running away as the waves came in! I was not so brave to get my carbon fiber coated in sea salt, so I had to be satisfied shooting fast.

We headed back to the car and continued east on the ring road, trying to fit as much as we could before we had to turn around.

We continued to Dyrhólaey viewpoint, an overlook of a sea arch and the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. Black sand seemed to stretch beyond the horizon and to the ends of the earth. A beach, at the end of the world. My favorite kind.

There were a bunch of tourists here admiring the beach. I was over on the other side struggling in the wind to take a long exposure...

Next up -- perhaps the most famous waterfall in all of Iceland -- Skógafoss. What the guidebooks and blogs don't mention -- there's a stair and trail up above the waterfall to multiple waterfalls beyond! It became clearer the further we went as the crowds thinned that most people didn't know either.

I could hardly walk 15 steps before finding another photo begging to be taken. Everything was lush, carpeted in various shades of green. Vitali sighed with exasperation repeatedly, and at length.

I realize now that I was taking as many pictures of waterfalls as I could to sustain me for the next several years.

We only made it as far as Femri-Fellsfoss before we decided to turn around to make it back to the doctor in time. I think there was one more waterfall...

We were only driving for five minutes before we went past another waterfall. The parking lot was full though so we executed a drive-by shooting.

So we headed back to Selfoss, I saw the doctor, and got a prescription, all for about $150, which was sent into a national prescription system that could be accessed from any pharmacy I chose. In Iceland, citizens have free nationalized healthcare! I tried not to dwell on this.

We headed back east after, chasing sunset. Several hours later we arrived at a large guesthouse with a TON of single-user restrooms, and a shared kitchen, which was great. Like so many other places we would end up staying, we checked ourselves in and didn't see anyone besides guests.

In the morning we were treated to another beautiful, soft sunrise, as we continued east along the Ring Road.

There was no shortage of landscapes to photograph.

Like in the Faroes, there was water flowing over the edges of cliffs pretty much everywhere.

Before long we reached our next stop -- a beautiful gorge named Fjaðrárgljúfur. Here, there were a lot of people, and people breaking the no-drone rule! A park ranger showed up as we left to issue warnings...

Like everything else in Iceland, it was quite beautiful. Although, we thought the gorge we stumbled across in the Highlands was prettier.

The pathway followed the upper edge of the gorge, with overlooks at the edges of the rock formations to peek over and see below.

At the end was a unique cascade.

We walked back the way we came and I managed to find more photos to take.

Poor Vitali!

We left and continued east and came upon perhaps one of the most dramatic portions of the Ring Road, near Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður, within Vatnajökull National Park, protecting the largest and most voluminous ice cap in the country. I love ice caps.

We arrived at the visitor center along with throngs of others and parked, not before making some rice and eggs in the gravel (covered in sriracha) before heading up the trail.

Fall colors were peeking out as we ascended the side of the mountain, in the cool, crisp air. Cool and crisp in the way that only air recently caressed by glacial ice feels.

Views of the wide glacial runoff plain spread out before us. Based on the pattern, what does this look like in the spring?

We gained the top of a hill and could just see the glacier beyond -- and before long, we were at the top -- and found ourselves a breathtaking view of nature's majesty. Did I mention I love glaciers? Ultra chill, slow-moving, doesn't take anybody's shit.

It's very interesting the difference between some glacial tarns. The amount of sediment in this one was high, and the water was a murky greige.

We drank our fill of the glacial air and then headed back towards the trailhead, but by a different trail, passing by three waterfalls along the way.

Once we were back in the parking lot Vitali bought an overpriced coke ($5 for a can??) which we both enjoyed and then we continued east, passing another of the Foss brand hotels, looking extremely well designed. Next to it we spied a small waterfall and an empty gravel lot. We parked to take a look, as an old man who looked like Santa Claus walked over to us in shorts and a t-shirt to say hello and see how we were doing. For reference, we were both wearing wool hats and all the clothing we owned.

We talked with Santa for a little while and then continued east. Maybe he was vacationing in warm weather before the holiday season? We weren't far from the Arctic Circle...

The scenery on this side of the island ended up being some of the most dramatic landscapes we saw in Iceland. We were not far from the coast but the mountains and glaciers nearly came up right to the edge of it.

Next stop -- two famous lagoons full of ice -- although one was less popular than the other. We stopped at Fjallsárlón first, the less popular one. As we parked we could see spectacular light illuminating the clouds around the glacier and rushed to get up the trail to see the lake. It was magnificent.

There were chunks of glacier floating around in the lake, offering many opportunities to photograph. We watched as a boat tour shuttled tourists around the small lake.

After that, we headed to the next bay over -- the much more touristed one, Jökulsárlón, which was filled with people milling about. We overheard that there were seals nearby and eagerly looked -- but only saw a few heads bobbing in the distance and then disappearing. The icebergs here were more dramatic than at Fjallsárlón, and the intensity of the blue water was more pronounced.

Unfortunately, despite seeing the sun shining on the glacier at the head of this bay from Jökulsárlón, by the time we got there, it had clouded over. Which was a shame, because I would have loved to survey the largest glacier in Europe. The breadth that we could see though -- was awe-inspiring. It was much broader than any of the glaciers we had seen before -- and we've seen quite a few!

The ice was amazing. Some of it was striped with what appeared to be layers of volcanic ash, reflecting the long, tumultuous history of the island.

Our last stop for the day was Diamond Beach, so named for sea washed pieces of ice that had made their way from this lagoon out to the sea, and ended up scattered along the shore.

The sand was very black, lending quite a dramatic effect. Many tourists here.

I flung myself down into the sand, eager to capture the amazing shapes littering the beach before us.

Some of them really did look like diamonds. I accidentally got my boots wet in the ocean but fortunately this was the last stop for the day and we had a little bit of driving to do to reach the guesthouse.

Further up the beach was a huge expanse of perfectly rounded rocks and pebbles. I managed to find one, almost perfectly circular, half exposed in the sand. I took it. Taking it was okay as the area was not considered protected by the Icelandic government.

It was getting dark by the time we left, and we sped as quickly as our little car would take us towards our beds for the evening.

The sun slowly set, and day turned into night.

We found our guesthouse, a small two story home converted for the use in the town of Höfn. Like some of the other places, there was no one here. We simply read the sign inside and found our key nearby.

The kitchen was right outside of our door and so was the bathroom. There was a nice view to mountains too.

In the morning we headed to Stokksnes, a spit of land with a dramatic ridge jutting out to the sea. The name of the mountain is Vestrahorn. What a cool name.

We had to pay something like $15 to park and wander around as it is privately owned but it was very worth it. We walked out onto the dunes to admire the mountain, which was set astride a beautiful black sand beach. There were two other landscape photographers out here, wandering around in the dunes and the sand, mesmerized by the mountains and the sea.

As we observed the mountain, the clouds began to collect around the peaks. Once again, we were lucky with the timing, having arrived just long enough earlier to see the mountain fully.

Nearby was a NATO radar station and lighthouse. The radar station was fully fenced and the fence advised to not smoke within 50 meters of the structure.

We walked out onto the rocks, which were slick with the biofilm of the sea, looking for seals, and instead found what looked like a giant washing machine. It was connected to the ocean somewhere, because the water would drain and then dramatically crash back in.

We walked around and then headed over to a very still tidal pool, which was reflecting the drama of the mountains perfectly.

We made our way for a beached ship -- which we think was a part of the movie set that was built here in 2010 -- which was abandoned due to lack of funds, although (according to the internet) Universal earmarked the place for a movie set to release in 2016, although it never did, and IMDB merely lists the movie as 'in development'.

It was done up just like a real Viking village would have looked. Supposedly. It was pretty cool.

Above -- how a traditional roofing application would have looked.

We headed back, stopping to admire the bones of a whale long gone.

We were ready to continue -- now north on the Ring Road, and along the East coast of the island. Along the way we saw waterfalls in the distance and a trailhead so we stopped to walk a half mile to see Skútafoss, another pair of waterfalls with nobody there.

There is no greater joy than being alone in the wilderness.

We absorbed the solitude of the place and headed back to the car, beginning a scenic drive along the east coast. Unfortunately, it was very overcast with low level clouds hiding most of the scenery.

At one point, we pulled over to take pictures of these amazing rock formations but also noticed a bunch of geese down in the water. We walked down, and noticed a bunch of wildlife photographers squatting in the bushes with their tripods and long lenses. It was like coming across another species.

After a few shots of the geese I turned around and looked at the much more interesting subjects behind us...

We continued, passing by more variations of mountain, clouds, and water.

Boooo clouds.

I should have become a geologist.

Ever onward, stopping where we could to explore the landscape. We turned off onto Öxi, a scenic route across a 1000m pass, and drove along the gravel road past stunning wilderness. My only wish was we had more time to stop everywhere we wanted and see everything we could.

Before long we would arrive at our next guesthouse, in Egilsstaðir.