Where: Iceland
When: May 6, 2012
With: Dave, Nic, Divya and David
For Day 4 in Iceland, we went on another tour outside of the city. This one was called the Fire and Ice tour, and is meant to show the dichotomy that is this entire island.
First up was the Fire portion. We were going on a hike towards some hot springs, where we'd be able to strip down to our bathing suits and soak ourselves. The hike started off in a barren moonscape. Random steam vents cropped up across a brown and mossy plain, while random patches of snow dotted the landscape.
As we carefully climbed down the rocky edge of the valley, steam rose around us, making the entire process feel even more daunting. However, when we reached the bottom, the surrounding landscape was gorgeous, and so different than what we had just left behind.
We followed our guide through the valley, hiking along and having no idea where were going or what was next.
Finally, we reached a beautiful curve in the river when our guide plopped his stuff down and said we were here. He basically then dropped trou, put on his speedo, and climbed into the deepest part of the water there was. He didn't move from his ideal spot the whole time, bastard. What kind of tour guide does that!?
Anyway, we all seriously weighed whether this seemed worth stripping off our several layers of warm clothes to get in what looked to be like 3 inches of water. This was not the hot springs dip any of us had pictured. But when in Rome...or a valley in the middle of nowhere, Iceland. So we all very tentatively took off layer by layer, and quickly made our way to the water.
We found a spot a bit further upstream where the water was a perfect steamy temperature. We arranged the rocks underneath us to find the perfect spots to lay out, and went for it. It ended up being shockingly....lovely. The water probably would have boiled us if we were completely under, so it was just enough to keep us toasty without overheating. We just laid in the river, listening to the quiet atmosphere around us and relaxed.
At one point, we stopped to view that volcano that erupted a couple years ago causing all those flight delays across Europe. Now its so peaceful, you'd never know what had happened.
Another pit stop along the way was Skógarfoss. This waterfall used to sit on the coastline, but now is almost 5k away. This is one of the biggest falls in Iceland.
Legend has it that the first Viking settler in the area, angry at his lazy sons, put their inheritance into a chest and threw it into the falls just before his death. Local folklore claims that some villagers found the chest a few years back, but when they tried to pull it up, the handle snapped off. The handle now apparently sits in a museum, but no one knows if the legend is true. We did not even try to look for it.
After this stop, we headed straight to the official Ice portion of the tour, the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Situated next to a volcano, the glacier has a really interesting shape and color due the volcanic ash around it (from an eruption in 1918!) Remember when I said that the Skógarfoss waterfall used to be the coastline? It was that 1918 eruption that caused massive glacial flooding, leaving behind deposits of earth and ash that gradually built up the coastline to what it is today.
And then we were off. The surface was made up of large cubes of ice. Not quite like walking on snow, but easier than walking on an ice rink. While the ice pick didn't serve a HUGE purpose, it was really fun to play with.
The whole hike, you have to keep your eyes peeled. There's these random, really deep cracks in the ice that went down really far. Did NOT want to fall in one of these.
At the bottom, we got to climb through a fissure formed in the ice. It was solid, which helped me forget my claustrophobic fear of igloos. David was fine; Dave, however, was terrified.
Some fun with ice picks. No Dave, do not break the glacier...he was like a child with that thing.
While the lighting is bad, we still needed to take some pictures from behind the falls because this doesn't happen often.
On the drive home, Dave happily took up the offer Divya had made the entire trip, for someone to make use of her scarf.
Once back in Reykjavik, we celebrated our last night out with a truly authentic Icelandic meal. We toasted the trip, ate some more strange things, and stayed out until light...actually, we weren't out late, it was just really light until really late. A fantastic trip to a place that is so weird and crazy, and so not that far away.
When: May 6, 2012
With: Dave, Nic, Divya and David
For Day 4 in Iceland, we went on another tour outside of the city. This one was called the Fire and Ice tour, and is meant to show the dichotomy that is this entire island.
First up was the Fire portion. We were going on a hike towards some hot springs, where we'd be able to strip down to our bathing suits and soak ourselves. The hike started off in a barren moonscape. Random steam vents cropped up across a brown and mossy plain, while random patches of snow dotted the landscape.
After a very speedy hike (our tour guide was not one to enjoy the ride in life), we reached the edge of this giant valley. Then learned that we were going to hike straight down into it.
As we carefully climbed down the rocky edge of the valley, steam rose around us, making the entire process feel even more daunting. However, when we reached the bottom, the surrounding landscape was gorgeous, and so different than what we had just left behind.
We followed our guide through the valley, hiking along and having no idea where were going or what was next.
Finally, we reached a beautiful curve in the river when our guide plopped his stuff down and said we were here. He basically then dropped trou, put on his speedo, and climbed into the deepest part of the water there was. He didn't move from his ideal spot the whole time, bastard. What kind of tour guide does that!?
Anyway, we all seriously weighed whether this seemed worth stripping off our several layers of warm clothes to get in what looked to be like 3 inches of water. This was not the hot springs dip any of us had pictured. But when in Rome...or a valley in the middle of nowhere, Iceland. So we all very tentatively took off layer by layer, and quickly made our way to the water.
We found a spot a bit further upstream where the water was a perfect steamy temperature. We arranged the rocks underneath us to find the perfect spots to lay out, and went for it. It ended up being shockingly....lovely. The water probably would have boiled us if we were completely under, so it was just enough to keep us toasty without overheating. We just laid in the river, listening to the quiet atmosphere around us and relaxed.
After about 15 minutes, it actually got too warm, surprisingly. When we got out, if you towelled off quick enough, you were perfectly fine sitting in the 40 degree weather with nothing around you but a towel. We enjoyed the toasty feeling for a little while before getting dressed again.
This also proved to be a bit of an experience, since I didn't want to wear a wet bathing suit, but there were definitely no changing rooms. Ahhh, the feeling of bearing it all while hiding behind a rift in a valley. Particularly hiking to that rift wearing my bathing suit and hiking boots, a style I will not be bringing back to London with me.
We headed back towards the entrance to the valley, taking in the scenery from the opposite direction.
The hike back up was a little easier, but no less daunting. Very happy to have reached the top.
At this point, we hiked back to the van to head for some lunch and the Ice portion of our tour. On the drive, we passed spectacular scenery. On the right side of the bus was the Atlantic, on the left side, giant cliffs and mountains with random waterfalls, snow caps, and lush green.
At one point, we stopped to view that volcano that erupted a couple years ago causing all those flight delays across Europe. Now its so peaceful, you'd never know what had happened.
Another pit stop along the way was Skógarfoss. This waterfall used to sit on the coastline, but now is almost 5k away. This is one of the biggest falls in Iceland.
Legend has it that the first Viking settler in the area, angry at his lazy sons, put their inheritance into a chest and threw it into the falls just before his death. Local folklore claims that some villagers found the chest a few years back, but when they tried to pull it up, the handle snapped off. The handle now apparently sits in a museum, but no one knows if the legend is true. We did not even try to look for it.
A wee bit wet.
Reflection
After this stop, we headed straight to the official Ice portion of the tour, the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Situated next to a volcano, the glacier has a really interesting shape and color due the volcanic ash around it (from an eruption in 1918!) Remember when I said that the Skógarfoss waterfall used to be the coastline? It was that 1918 eruption that caused massive glacial flooding, leaving behind deposits of earth and ash that gradually built up the coastline to what it is today.
We met up (at the meeting point, oddly enough) to get fitted for our shoes and collect our ice picks.
After getting our gear, we hiked to the edge of the glacier before attaching our claw shoes.
And then we were off. The surface was made up of large cubes of ice. Not quite like walking on snow, but easier than walking on an ice rink. While the ice pick didn't serve a HUGE purpose, it was really fun to play with.
The surface of the glacier melts when it's in direct sunlight. Our guide found a spot where he could swing the ice pick a bit and create a small stream of melting ice. We were then invited to assume a push-up position and drink some glacier water. It looks dirty, but tasted delicious.
The other interesting thing were all the large piles of ash dotting the landscape. Most of them have giant blocks of ice underneath. When the ice underneath melts, it leaves all the ash at the surface.
The fearless hikers (courtesy of Nic).
The whole hike, you have to keep your eyes peeled. There's these random, really deep cracks in the ice that went down really far. Did NOT want to fall in one of these.
Eventually we reached the coolest igloo everrr. Our guide had to hack steps into the ice to get to it.
At the bottom, we got to climb through a fissure formed in the ice. It was solid, which helped me forget my claustrophobic fear of igloos. David was fine; Dave, however, was terrified.
Just kidding, he's fine. The blue from ice reflected throughout the entire little cavern and the ground had about 2 inches of ash on it.
Fearless and emerging from the fissure.
Some fun with ice picks. No Dave, do not break the glacier...he was like a child with that thing.
After our adventure, we started heading back for solid ground.
The drive back to Reykjavik proved to be just as pretty as the drive out.
We made one final stop before we were done at Seljalandsfoss.
This waterfall is most noted because you can actually walk behind it.
The cave behind it looked like where the leprechauns keep their gold.
From behind the waterfall. This may have been my favorite place on the whole trip.
While the lighting is bad, we still needed to take some pictures from behind the falls because this doesn't happen often.
No matter where you turned, there was a rainbow. And this made Dave very happy.
A perfectly picturesque end to our trip.
On the drive home, Dave happily took up the offer Divya had made the entire trip, for someone to make use of her scarf.
Once back in Reykjavik, we celebrated our last night out with a truly authentic Icelandic meal. We toasted the trip, ate some more strange things, and stayed out until light...actually, we weren't out late, it was just really light until really late. A fantastic trip to a place that is so weird and crazy, and so not that far away.
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