Day Seven - Vatnajökull Glacier (and more)
As we were driving to our first planned stop we passed diamond beach and had to stop. The evening before there had been very little ice on the beach and today there was a lot of very large pieces. Much cooler. The tide was also going out and you could see the water rushing over a couple pieces of ice stuck in the canal leading to the sea. I kept thinking about how long this ice had been around.
We drove to another, lesser known, glacier lake called Fjallshokul. This one brought us closer to the edge of the glacier. We heard a big boom over the mountain in front of us and waves formed on the lake so we figured the glacier shifted and caused a tremor we couldn't feel.
The Vatnajökull glacier covers 10% of Iceland. We drove many kilometers today and kept seeing more glacier tongues. Our next stop was Skaftafell, which is part of the Vatnajökull National Park. We hiked a trail that used to take you to the edge of the glacier, but now ends at a glacier lake. We liked Fjallshokul better and would have gone to the falls in Skaftafell instead if we had known. We walked 3.6 km (just over two miles) round trip and it would have been another 3.6 to see the falls. We had places to go and things to see.
We ate lunch at a food truck at the park. Delicious fish and chips for me and yummy lobster soup for Rob and Rachael. We are getting used to spending $67 for three lunches. Food in Iceland is expensive.
Our next stop was Fjaðrárgljúfur, or Feather River Canyon. This is a long, narrow canyon with a river running through it. It's very beautiful with lots of interesting rock shapes. A longish hike uphill too.
Vík í Mýrdal, or just Vik, is the southernmost village in Iceland. It is very tiny, but has a church surrounded by lupine which is very beautiful when they are in bloom, a beautiful black sand beach, puffins, and interesting basalt formations offshore. Rachael's goal is to buy a real icelandic sweater so we spent a little time in the wool gallary. No sweater today, but a hat for Rachael and a headband for Robin.
Reynisfjara is a beautiful black sand beach not far from Vik with dramatic basalt column cliffs. A storm was brewing so the waves were spectacular.
Our last stop before a late dinner was Skogafoss, a waterfall on the Skoga River. This river is not fed by a glacier as far as I can tell. You can walk right up to the fall if you want to get wet. The spray spreads far and wide.
It was very windy and starting to rain by the time we got to Hella for dinner and our hotel.