We left Asbyrgi rather late this morning. The light rain and wind started last night and was still with us when we woke up. Rain and wind are not very motivating for an early start, it just wants to make you sleep in a bit. We had to take care of tanks, etc. before we headed out for the drive to Myvatn for the night. We had a few stops planned along the way.
Our first stop was at the park’s information center at the entry to the park. On the way in, we noticed some hitchhikers standing in the rain just ahead of the center. At the information center, we picked up a map and gathered some information about the area. The staff were very helpful in checking my plan and getting us started in the right direction. As we were leaving the info center, we noticed it was still raining and the hitchhikers were still there.
So we had to go over and see where they were heading. They were two very nice young women from Germany going in our direction. We offered a ride letting them that we would be making stops along the way. They were happy with that as they were hoping to see the same landmarks.
Paul help them load in their huge packs into a our very large basement area and off we went. They confirmed that they had been in quarantine for 2 weeks on a local farm before being let loose in the country. Made me feel lucky we only had to spend 6 hours of our vacation waiting for the return of our test.
As we approached our first destination at Dettifoss and its sister Selfoss we could see the mist from the falls rising in the distance. Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfalls in Europe. Our good luck with weather was holding, the rain had stopped, though the skies promised more rain was in our future.
To reach the falls you traverse your way though a lunar landscape of gray rocks and boulders. At times it was a little trying for my knees as the path was very rocky in places. The falls were loud and beautiful. We could see people off in the distance on the over side of the falls. They used the un-paved road for a different vantage point on the other side of the falls. They all looked very small, hardly visible at times due to the amount of mist in the air. In fact many of my photos of the place seem blurry and not very sharp. All due to this mist.
After taking all the paths, to all the viewing areas, we started back over the paths to make our way to Selfoss. On the way up we encounter a tour bus group making their way to the falls. It was a lot of people, and we felt lucky we got there before the crowd.
Again we could see Selfoss’ mist hanging over the rocks in the distance as we made way there. The river below in the deep ravine was so much calmer looking. It was hard to believe it was the same force that would shortly go over the top of Dettifoss. The water was a milky green and it seemed to have light and dark areas. Was it shallow or full of large bumpy rock below the surface? There was black sand beaches along the base like you would see at an ocean. Not only was the contrast in color amazing, but seeing beach sand like that along a river was pretty unusual. I could only imagine how pretty this scene would be if the sun were out.
After our fill of these waterfalls, we pointed ourselves in the direction of Myvatn pronounced (Me va) named after the little black flies that swarm over the lake and just about everything close to it. There is good fishing here, lots of birds, and unusual landforms. That’d mostly because this area of Iceland sits on two tectonic plates, and the earth is constantly moving. In some places, the ground just releases steam and there are some hot pots and places where the water will scald you. This easy access to geothermal energy runs many of the power plants around the country.
We let the let the young ladies out of the camper on the on the Ring Road which runs through the town of Myvatn, so they could catch a ride to the east. (“Town†in Iceland often means: post office + gas station + small grocery story + one church + swimming pool. That’s usually about it, except for some combination of hostels, hotels, and a campground.) We continued on, driving around the lake to get the lay of the land, and visit our second stop of the day, a little pond along the lake where there were some unusual land forms built up by lava and steam.
Further down the road, we stopped at Lavator Dimmuborgir (Dark Castle Lava Fields). This is the home of the Troll Gryla and her 12 sons the Yule Lads. If you come close to Christmas and when its dark most of the day, you might find them working and pulling pranks here. We did a couple of easy walking trails through the gnarly lava landforms. The informational sign says we can see many trolls here who have turned to stone because they looked into the sun. It was beautiful in it ruggedness, crispy angles and black charcoal gray coloration. And all dress up in the lovely greenery of their little birch trees, willow shrubs, various little flowers and berries. Not to mention the brilliant blue skies and puffy white clouds.
We found our campground for the night, just outside the town. It sits on a nice little knoll that over looks the lake and the mountain ranges in the distance. A very nice spot to watch the ever-changing light on the landscape. We could see the gray clouds moving in over the mountains to our West. Rain is again heading our way.
We got a text from our friend Bob this morning. He’s in the neighborhood, relatively speaking. He’ll be doing some bike riding near Reykjavik before taking the Ring Road to the East Fjords. We expect we’ll catch up in a few days.
Tomorrow we visit a number of places, so off to bed I go.
