I was not a fan of the farmhouse. I did not sleep amazing there and found the place downright creepy. I got up and ready and hit the road quickly this morning, I never even stopped to take a picture or look around the entire property. I was ready to get out. I drove down the road to the town of Hofn for a cup of tea and some breakfast, where apparently bacon with your eggs means half a pig on your plate. Holy bacon invasion! At least I would be fueled for at least 5 hours of driving interwoven into my exploring. I also learned that you really should take heed of all the animal crossing warning signs as I came across my first set of sheep in the middle of the road.
The first stop of the day was Sveinsstekksfoss Waterfall. It was cool, right off of a side road so no real effort needed to get to it. I wore my CSAC pullover today so had to make sure to get a picture of it while I still realized its what I was wearing. I didn’t spend much time there and as soon a busload of tourists arrived, I bounced. Though the fall was great, the best part was probably seeing another indication of the Icelanders don’t want people pooping all over their land!
Heading towards my next stop I turned down a side highway and off of the Ring Road and the coast, heading inland for a bit. I had close to a 2-hour drive ahead of me. The road taking me inland was beautiful and had a rushing river flowing alongside it. When I got the opportunity I pulled over and scrambled over some rocks down to the bank for a closer look. This was also my first time filling a bottle with pure, fresh Icelandic water. Everything I read and everyone I talked to said to do it. And it was wonderful. I love water and am a bit of a water snob and this was the purest, most perfect, water I had ever tasted. I walked a bit and found myself at the top of a waterfall! With no other people around and what could be a great photo I was again glad I had my little iPhone holding tripod and remote in my pack! I staged my shot and headed back over to sit at the top of the waterfall with my feet dangling over. And then I decided that was a super stupid and dangerous idea and stood a couple feet away instead. At least I had a cool idea originally!
I admired the ever-changing landscape and good windshield wipers as I made my way down a fjord into the little town of Seydisfjordur. This town took me about an hour out of my way roundtrip but I’m glad I went and wish I could have spent more time there. The town offered me some interesting scenes; a car overturned on the side of the road (hope they too had all the insurance!), a beautiful golf course (sadly it was closed or I just may have gotten in 9 holes), a large cruise ship in the small bay, a beautiful little church with a rainbow road leading to it, and some fabulous little artisan shops. I admired the sights, bought a pair of earrings made out of sheep horn, had some lunch, and hit the road. As I made my way back up the road I decided to pull off for a good shot of the golf course and was met with a gorgeous scene of the course and town with a rainbow arching above it.
My next stop was supposed to be another waterfall but as I looked at the map I realized it had been somewhere on my way to Seydisfjordur and I missed it. Oh well, I’ve seen plenty and continue to see them CONSTANTLY while driving down the road. I continued on to the Hevrir Geothermal Area, another long jaunt. The road is well maintained and such a gorgeous drive that the time was a breeze. As I drove I spotted countless waterfalls, amazing landscapes, and so many sheep. And I wondered, does Iceland have a fire department? I mean, for real, maybe in the two “larger” cities but anywhere else I don’t seen the point. I need to find the answer to this question. As the car cycled through the music on my phone two songs came on in a row that struck me. First, Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” – I mean, I feel like I don’t need to say anything else about that. What a perfect song for a me-trip. And then next Shinedown’s “Second Chance” with the line “sometimes goodbye is a second chance.” I don’t have anything that I need to say goodbye to right now. I feel like I’ve done that appropriately and now is the time for my next chance with some things, but to me the song really makes me think about open opportunities and assess that I feel like I’ve taken the right chances lately and though there’s nothing else I need to say goodbye to right now, there are things that I look forward to saying hello to. This was a good drive. And I also decided that instead of calling Iceland the land of “Fire & Ice” it should be the land of “Rainbows & Waterfalls.”
I hadn’t done much research on my stops and while still pretty awesome to see geothermal activity when you’re a geothermal nerd like me, the Hevrir Geothermal area was super unimpressive compared to what I’ve seen in New Zealand. And the smell of sulphur was insane. And I should mention that it has been freezing cold all day. Definitely my coldest day here. In the low 40s and windy. I actually stopped and looked at some hiking opportunities along the way but there had been some rain and I didn’t feel like being frozen and wet. Frozen was bad enough out here.
From the geothermal area I headed to the Grjotagja Cave – some cave with a hidden warm pool that supposedly some famous Icelandic outlaw hid in. The cave itself was not very entertaining but I spotted a little trail up on top of and behind the cave and that made the stop worth it. I climbed up and found myself standing above the cave and atop a fissure in the earth with the cave beneath. Standing on the earth and contemplating how it just split open was a mind fuck. Off in the distance a bit I could see a giant black crater. It was intriguing to me. I wanted to know more about this crater. I scrambled back down and headed off to the Lofthellier Lava Cave.
Well, I never found the Lofthellir Lava Cave but I did find myself at the base of this dark crater that was calling to me. I had stopped on the road for a better view of it and realized that I thought I could make out little specks on it, people were climbing it. I immediately honed in. This was the Hverfjall Crater, and it was about to be another volcano I climbed. It was a steep climb up the slope. Sorry calves! And it definitely warmed me up! As I made my way to the top I found myself staring into another beautiful volcanic crater. This one all black and ashy, unlike others I had seen before. And when I finally moved my gaze from the crater and looked around me I was stunned, from this viewpoint the surrounding landscape was stunning. I’m pretty sure this was the most mesmerizing landscape I had seen on this trip. I was totally in the moment. There were some elevation changes along the way but it was a no-brainer for me to hike around the entire rim of the crater. As I started up the elevated lip the winds picked up and I was frozen once again. I stopped and put all the layers I had peeled off back on and continued. I was in awe, I kept stopping just to look around and soak it in. I wanted to talk to my sister on FaceTime so bad so I could show my older nephew the beautiful volcano. Last time I visited, Matteo and I played the hot lave game and he would have been even more mesmerized than I was. About halfway around the crater I realized that there were very few people up on the trail at that moment and nobody near me. I took my time letting my eyes absorb all the magic around me and letting my ears absorb the silence. Aside from being IN the other volcano my first day, this was the pinnacle moment of my trip so far. I found myself grinning. Just standing there, spinning around to see it all, and grinning from ear to ear. Everything about this little 3ish mile trek was perfect and I made what will for sure be an everlasting memory. I didn’t want to leave her.
I peeled myself away from Hverfjall and continued on my last 1 1/2 hours to Akureyri where I am staying tonight. Per usual, breathtaking scenes along the way. At one point there was a beautiful rushing river with little grassy islands. Set amongst a lush grassy area with the stark mountains/volcanoes in the background it was quite a site. I found a spot to pull over but there was a little fence stopping me from getting closer. Hmm. Are fences in Iceland electric? In a little area it was bent down a bit and I decided to make my chance. I was very thankful for my long legs as I was able to get on my tippy toes and step completely over the fence. But there was a moment as I was straddling the fence line where I had a flicker of anxiety, was I about to get a thrill? Thankfully I made it over and back just fine. I did end up poking the fence to see, no electricity. I’m guessing they don’t actually have many, or any, of those here but this California girl doesn’t know!
I finally arrived in Akureyri to find my AirbBnB. Which turned out to be a challenge. There is a festival (the birthday of the town or something like that) this weekend and the street my apartment is on is blocked off. I parked a block over and walked over to check it out. And the lockbox was stuck. Like stuck. Like was not going to open. Ugh. Thankfully I had the host’s cell number and was able to get a hold of him right away! He was out of town and sending someone over to help me. It was frigid out and I took shelter in a store across the street, waiting, and eating a fruit bar since I was getting hangry. When the lady finally arrived and I was able to get inside my frustration quickly subsided. The place is adorable, modern, clean, perfect. But it’s also on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. Thankfully I pack efficiently so I was able to pull just what I needed for the night out of my bags instead of haul everything up. Tomorrow is another long day; a flight to an island in the arctic circle in the morning (and back), whale watching and sea angling in the afternoon, and then a 2 hour drive to my next destination.
Taking On the World 
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