We started our day in Reykjavik this morning at 8:30 by getting our rental car and we just got to our hotel near the town of Vik on the Southern coast. It is after 11:00! We have had many adventures today. Even better than we imagined!
Our first stop today was at Thingvellir National Park. It is only about 30 minutes from Reykjavik. It is historically important because this is where the first assembly met to establish Iceland's government. Of course, as you can guess, I was more interested in the science. Picture 1 is of Donna and I standing on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. On our right is the North American Plate and on our left is the Eurasian Plate. These plates are diverging (splitting) at a rate of 2 cm per year. That is what allows magma to get to the surface, creating all the volcanic and hydrothermic features. Iceland is unique because there has been extra magma flow there, but this process called sea floor spreading is happening along the middle of the entire Atlantic Ocean. It is the major force that split Pangaea and still moves the continents today. We continued about 20 minutes up the road to an area named Geysir. It had hot springs, steam vents, mud pot and, of course, an erupting geysir. All of these features exist here because magma is close to the surface heating the ground water. The water is over 200 degrees! This reminded me of Yellowstone and Lassen Volcanic National Parks. It smelled like it, too. Stinky sulfur! Picture 2 is of a bubbling mud pot. Picture 3 is of the geysir called Strokkur erupting. It is not quite as tall as Old Faithful in Yellowstone, but erupts more frequently. It erupts about every 10 minutes! Only about 10 minutes more up the road and it was time for our first of 3 waterfalls today. This waterfall is called Gullfoss which means "golden waterfall" in Icelandic. It was breathtaking! Picture 4 shows the waterfall. Look for the rainbow in the picture. Picture 5 is of the canyon wall downstream. These are the basalt columns (igneous rock) that the church in Reykjavik from yesterday is patterned after. So far today our weather had been pretty good. Sprinkles while driving, but no big deal. Plus it was in the 50s. Then the rain really came! That did not stop us. No time to wait to see a volcanic caldera with a lake at the bottom. We put on our highly effective rain gear and hiked around the Kerid Crater. It is picture 6. This caldera formed when a magma chamber emptied too quickly and the mountain collapsed. The lake is actually spring water. That is where the level of ground water, called the water table, is. We had skipped lunch and were very hungry. We went to a restaurant called Kaffi Krus. Click here for the website if you want to check it out. Picture 7 is our meal. Donna got fish and chips with water ($29) and I got a cheese pizza, Italian salad and Coke Zero ($38). It was delicious with quick service. That was good, because we had a few more stops to make today! It is safe to say that the most fun we had all day was at our next waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. We spotted it from miles away. It was taller than Gullfoss, but not as wide. The best thing about this waterfall is that you could hike behind it! Even though the rain had stopped, we put our rain gear back on for this! Picture 8 is a view from the front. Notice the rainbow again. Picture 9 is a selfie I took halfway behind the waterfall. Notice my mood! It felt like being in a storm on the way behind it. Picture 10 is the reward you get for making it behind the falls. Finally, Picture 11 is of Donna and I after we made it back through the "storm" to the other side. We were laughing like little girls. It felt really good to laugh like that in this beautiful place. I know what you are thinking. Not another waterfall! This one was called Skogafoss. The challenge for this one came with picture 12. Notice the 500 steps to the right to make it to the top of the waterfall. Picture 13 is the view from the top. Notice the sun in the picture. It was around 9:00 p.m. when I took that picture. Our final stop tonight was really close to our guesthouse for the night. It is an island called Dyrholaey very close to Vik. The water you see in the pictures is the Atlantic ocean. This place is actually an island connected to the mainland with a road. It was formed from an offshore eruption of lava. Notice in picture 14 the arches from the ocean eroding the rock. Picture 15 shows other formations in the distance. These were part of the island once upon a time that have been more resistant to erosion so they still exist. Notice that the beach in the picture is black. That is because Iceland usually has nonexplosive eruptions that are low in silica. Silica is clear, so the absence of silica means a dark-colored igneous rock to get eroded into the sand. My final picture today, picture 16, is of the black sand beach. Notice the birds doting the beach. We are not sure what kind they are, but we wondered if they were in nesting pairs. Notice the mix of light and dark birds. We wondered if they were males and females. What a day! We saw all of that in about 200 miles of driving. We probably saw 30 more waterfalls than the ones we stopped at from the road. Our hotel tonight is called the Steig Guesthouse. It is much more rustic! Click here to see the website. Tomorrow our highlight will be a boat trip on a glacial lagoon. Thanks for keeping up with us! Hope you are enjoying!
7 Comments
Debbie
6/28/2017 08:41:31 pm
More beautiful pictures! You made it to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge!! Those waterfalls look amazing!
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Mom
6/29/2017 03:22:41 am
Wow, what an action packed day. Loved reading your posts and seeing such beautiful pictures. Your Dad would be in awe. Be safe, enjoy your new day. Love you, Mom
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Stayce Besst
6/29/2017 05:46:14 am
What a day! Your pictures are National Geographic worthy!
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Scott
6/29/2017 06:00:41 am
Awesome pics and incredible place. Did you eat that whole pizza???
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Shawn Phelps
6/29/2017 07:09:06 am
Wow!!!! You are in Science Heaven. :-) so many cool things to see in a single day. Be Safe!! Love you!!
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Justin
6/29/2017 12:13:30 pm
Officially jealous.
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Marcia
7/1/2017 02:05:36 pm
Wow! What an adventure and such awesome pictures! You have memories to last a life time with this trip for sure. There is so much you will be bringing back for your students too! Be safe and enjoy your days!
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