Tuesday, July 27
As we start the day, we’ve driven a good deal in the interior, but we aren’t far along the Ring Road, only having driven the south coast. In the next two days we will drive the southeast coast, which is defined by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier. The largest in Europe, the glacier is the size of Delaware; if it were to cover all of Iceland, it would have a uniform thickness of 30 meters.
The day dawned bright and sunny. One of the chief virtues of our hotel had been touted as its view of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier…and this morning it delivered! Yes, that is the same name as the volcano that erupted in 2010 and disrupted air traffic for days afterward. The volcano sits under the ice when it’s dormant.
And a quick note on nomenclature: Jökull means glacier, so to say “the Eyjafjallajökull Glacier” is redundant; from now on, we’ll just give the name without the “jökull” suffix.
We picked up a bit of rain as we retraced our tracks from our drive yesterday, but it was light rain and the visibility was pretty good. The first leg of the drive leads us through a sandur, or glacial moraine, below the Myrdals glacier. We thought this moraine was impressive in its size and desolation, but the day would prove that it was a small thing.
We then entered a vast lava field…but the strangest one we had seen yet. First came a black field with a series of pointed mounds, ten feet tall or so. The lava had flowed over what had been a wetland, and as the molten lava heated the water, steam exploded upwards, making a series of small “steam volcanos” that look like big pimples on the landscape.
As we drove further into the field, the lava became covered with a thick layer of very springy moss.
Once past the lava field, we drove along under a series of gorgeous cliffs and mountains; the land became verdant, with small farms perched under the cliffs.
It was along here that we encountered a lovely place called Skaftarheppurat.
A hamlet sits just below this waterfall. On a short trail below the road–within sight of the sea–are some strange geological formations, small buttes that project out of a hillside. The buttes were lined with extraordinary columnar basalt formations.
These formations were long thought to be the dwelling places of supernatural beings; there are many stories of elf and dwarf sightings among the local folk.
We soon began to get views in the distance of the massive Vatna Glacier, the largest glacier not in the arctic.
As you drive around the glacier, you pass literally dozens of massive outflow glaciers, each with its own name. One of the first of these that we passed has formed a small lagoon called Fjarsalon, with stunning blue icebergs floating around.
Next up was the visitor center for the Vatnajökull National Park at Skaftafell. This busy place sits on a narrow land isthmus surrounded by glaciers.
Of the many trails here, we chose one that would give us a sense of the vegetation and landforms…and would get us high enough for glacier views. This is a real National Park trail: the closer to the visitor center, the greater the crowd.
The trail follows a rushing stream in a gorge.
In about a mile you come to Skartafoss, yet another fall framed by columnar basalt.
The trail then rises sharply back up to a ridge…and the crowds thin out. By the time we had ascended to our goal, a glacier overview called Sjonander, we had the place to ourselves.
The trail then descends, looping away from the heights, and takes you to a lovely abandoned farm from the early 19th century, Sel. The farm sits above a massive glacial flood plain, the Skeidararsandur. In 1996 a large earthquake initiated volcanic activity along a ridge high up on the glacier. The resulting heat formed a sub glacial lake over the course of two weeks; when it burst out, it swept everything between Vatna and the sea away.
The tuft-roofed houses have been preserved as a kind of minimal museum; the rooms give a real sense of the restriction of living in a place like this.
People seem to have been a bit smaller back then.
Wherever we are in Iceland, we think about what our granddaughters, Vivian and Ingrid, would enjoy on their first trip here. We’re confident that they would love the variety of this hike, with its waterfalls, wonderful views, and…Icelandic horses!
As we drove on, we passed under glacier after glacier, all outlet glaciers for the massive Vatna. After less than an hour, we arrived at our next lodgings, a guesthouse at the historic farm Skalafell.
We stayed in a recent addition with lovely views over a cascade and down to the sea.
We drove up the road for dinner to a highly recommended farm restaurant, Jon Riki. The interior was homey and rather funky.
We have been impressed by the number of young families traveling with little ones. There were a couple of kids here just Nathaniel’s age, chowing down on Icelandic delicacies! OK, so the food was only OK, but the beer—brewed right here in the house—was terrific: an unfiltered and unfined ale with tons of character.