Greetings from the eastern portion of Iceland! We started another early day because we had an appointment to take a Jeep tour to hike on a glacier. The tour did not end up being what we expected. We took this monster jeep up to the very top of the glacier, not on the bottom part of the glacier called the tongue. It took an hour and a half to get to the top. Most of that time was driving on the glacier. That was a bumpy ride and it was so cloud-covered it was like riding through a glass of milk. It was a claustrophobic feeling.
When we finally got out to walk on the glacier, it wasn't glacial ice. It was the snow layer from the winter. Our guide name Tam was very enthusiastic and knowledgable. She said the snow that doesn't melt will get compacted into ice and add to the glacier below the snow that is almost a mile thick. Next, we drove a little further to the summit. You can see Donna walking to it in the second picture. Notice how fogged in it is. I told Donna walking through this was my worst nightmare. She said that we paid quite a bit for this nightmare! I asked Tam if you can usually see anything. She said that some days you can see to the ocean. Then she said to wait a few minutes because sometimes the sky will clear up. Next, we saw a peak of the sun and within 5 minutes we could see all the way down to the valley floor. Bowl-shaped cirques and an arete were clearly visible. Our nightmare turned into a pleasant surprise! You can see how happy we were! When we returned, Tam took some time to show us on the map exactly where we had been today. Click here to hear her explanation. You will get to hear how to pronounce these places in Iceland. I thought I would learn how to do this myself, but I have given up. Today we are drove from 4:00 to 12:00, if you think of Iceland like a clock. We started in the town called Hofn, which you pronounce more like Hopn, and journeyed to Myvatn. We drove the whole eastern portion. The road took us in and out of gorgeous fjords. Our intention was to drive the coast the whole way. Then, Donna took a cat nap. I took a wrong turn! I realized it when it turned to a gravel road so I woke Donna up. We discovered that we could make it to the same place, it would just be a more scenic route with slower-going roads. (Although, as you can see, the fjords were quite scenic!) My wrong turn actually led us to our favorite part of the day. Donna noticed there was a set waterfalls called Hengifoss and Litlanefoss. Our guidebook said they were easily accessible from the road. We interpreted that to mean it would be a quick stop for a photo op. Well...the path was accessible from the road, but it kept going and going and going. One hour and 15 minutes later we were to the top fall. We made it down in only 45 minutes. It was much more pleasant going downhill. Donna stopped for a drink from the river about halfway up. I joined her! We had no concerns about water pollution here. This country is very environmentally conscious, as are its visitors. As a guest here, we respect and admire their ways. This set of waterfalls has been the most challenging for me to understand. The hike was in three tiers. The first tier you come to is the river canyon. I thought this was the waterfall and was confused. I asked Donna where it was and she pointed way up! The second tier was Litlandefoss. It is pictured below. Notice the tilt of the basalt columns on the right. Remember that basalt is an igneous rock from cooled lava. Why do you think the basalt columns are tilted? I know the answer now, but I would like you to comment on possible explanations. Adults and students alike! DO NOT JUST GOOGLE IT! Focus on good science reasoning. Mom-you may not just say "A rock is a rock"! Every stone has a story! If I get enough good tries at explanations I will post the correct answer tomorrow. It seemed like we would never reach the top fall. It looked to be in our grasp to get there and then you would turn a corner and see another path heading straight up. Keep in mind we had not researched this stop since it was the result of my wrong turn. Finally, we got to the end of the trail with our best view of Hengifoss. Your next science challenge! Notice all of the reddish orange layers. All of the other layers are basalt from lava flows. What do you think the orange layers are? Same as above! Post possible explanations and I will reveal tomorrow. We headed from our hike to the biggest town in the East called Eglisstadir (population: 3,500). We ate the dinner pictured below. I had fish and chips tonight and Donna has chicken tandori. Our meals were around $30. It was good, but at home it would probably be a $12 meal. In case you were wondering, we did have lobster last night. We are keeping those prices private! :-) However, we are happy to share a picture of our friendly, Icelandic waiter. He was born and raised in Hofn. He said he was happy about the tourism boom in his country and seemed very genuine in his response. We asked his name, but there is no way I could attempt to spell it. Their names sound nothing like ours. Honestly, it sounds like they have phlegm in their throats when speak Icelandic, but their English is perfect. The weather was perfect today. We didn't even wear a winter coat up on the glacier. We also saw some interesting creatures today. Check out the picture of Rudolph below. (Wait-his nose is not red! Might be Prancer.) Also, there are over 500,000 free-range sheep in Iceland. That is almost double the citizens. They are everywhere! In September the sheep round up for winter is a big event! Tomorrow looks to be volcano day as we are getting closer to the Mid-Atlantic ridge. We are staying at the Sel Hotel in Myvatn tonight. Click here to check it out.
2 Comments
Shawn
6/30/2017 07:17:52 pm
What a fun day!!! The jeep looks cool too, something that would fit right in at LV Sophmore lot. Keep having fun and taking lots of pictures.
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Mom
7/1/2017 06:27:56 am
Wow, maybe some wrong turns along lives highway do produce great results. However, a rock is still just a rock in my science mind. LOL Love your amazing pictures though and honestly appreciate all of God's beautiful world. Also love reading your daily posts. Stay safe, love you.
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