I completed the Ring Road today – that’s right, I drove around the entire island of Iceland in seven days. According to my Garmin I have driven and hiked a combined 1,512.26 miles in the last seven days. Damn I’m good. And, ladies and gentlemen, the car is still fully intact! It was dreary, cold, and wet outside as I departed ahead of my planned time this morning and turned out to hit the road. I remembered seeing on the map that there was an “airport” near my AirBnB but I never did see one the day before. Paying attention now I realized I could see it, a tiny little grass landing strip and a single windsock. No thank you. As I drove past the first town, in the rain, I could see the yards of the few homes in the town, one home had a load of laundry out on a clothesline to dry, and it was raining out. As cranky as I felt this morning I figured those people were going to wake up even crankier.
I had two choices for my route today, I could either head straight down a road towards Reykjavik or I could go back down the half of the peninsula I covered last night and then come back around the other half, a considerably longer route. I figured the longer route was more scenic, and I had to start driving that direction to get gas, so I decided that since I was ahead of schedule for the day I might as well. There were a few things on my list for that part of the Peninsula that I otherwise would have missed having a chance to see. After less than an hour on the road, the sun started to come out. Hi old friend! As I approached the lava cave from yesterday’s exploration I knew I was almost to as far as I had come yesterday and punched my first destination for that half of the Peninsula in my map. First up, the Londrangar Basalt Cliffs. I was shocked when it said they were two minutes away, I had been that far yesterday. As I drove on I realized that I had seen this two Basalt Cliffs sticking out of the beach on the black sand beaches I visited yesterday. I just didn’t realize what they were. I don’t even think I took a picture of them, I wasn’t that impressed compared to the other sites I’ve seen.
More basalt columns were next on my list, this time the Gerduberg Cliff. I set my map and when I arrived I looked around surprised, it was just a little cliffside. I didn’t get what was special about it. I kept on driving to find the Eldborg Volcanic Caldera. This should have been about a 5k hike out to the caldera and back. On the way there I took in the beautiful sights around me, goddamn volcanoes are beautiful. The magnificent marbling down their sides of ash/lava/greenery is one of nature’s greatest artworks. I could see the Eldborg volcanic caldera in the distance and approached it, slowing, as it said I should be near the trailhead, and looked around. I couldn’t find the damn trailhead. I was tired and cranky (that’s what happens when I don’t take a morning shower too, I never quite feel awake – and the shower in last night’s AirBnB was a pain so I had skipped it). And I didn’t feel like putting much effort into it. So I took a mental snapshot of the caldera in the distance and kept on going to Grabok Crater. My day was going really quick, I was way ahead of schedule, so it looked like I might be able to fit the Golden Circle into my afternoon as well!
The Grabok Crater is just that, a volcanic crater. It wasn’t overly impressive compared to the other craters I had been able to explore over the last week. I’m pretty sure it felt my disinterest as I did the short hike around the lip and a gust of wind came up and sent my favorite traveling hat flying off my head! I hopped off the trail onto the rough lava rock and scrambled till I got my damn hat back. I would have scrambled down that entire crater if I had to. On that little walk I also realized that I had already gone through about 4 bottles of water so far today. One thing I’m going to miss about Iceland is their perfect water.
I headed towards Hraunfossar Falls. I kind of have waterfall fatigue from this trip already but these falls were supposed to be different in how they were set against a bed of black lava. And they were fabulous. One of my favorite waterfalls of my trip. They weren’t overly tall but it was a wide system of falls with two others closely upstream causing a furious river to crash downstream. These falls were the last stop I had originally on my list today. With so many things at the start being a bust I was super ahead of schedule still so I started onto the Golden Circle attractions.
Many people come to Iceland and just stay in Reykjavik and the Golden Circle is all of Iceland they experience as it’s been organized with a very heavy emphasis on tourism. And I have to admit, after the falls I wasn’t as cranky anymore but I was still pretty damn tired. But if I got the Golden Circle out of the way today then my last day in Iceland I could just take it easy. I headed towards the Thingvellir National Park Information Center as this was the first stop on my Golden Circle Route. Well, FYI, an Information Center is not the same as the Visitor Center. I asked about local hikes and they told me I had to go up the road to the Visitor Center. They didn’t know. I am very confused about what information the Information Center actually has. But I digress. Thingvellir is stunning. I wasn’t totally awake today until I started down into the park, heading to where the tectonic plates meet. There is a little trail that takes you along the line where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet and you can see where they have drifted apart. It was a gorgeous hike down into the divide. There were fissures filled with beautiful pools of water. These were some of my other favorite scenes this trip. I smiled and admired them and finally didn’t feel cranky anymore. I swapped picture taking with a family on the trail and when I looked at the picture I could even tell how happy I was.
As I left Thingvellir and drove towards Bruarfoss Falls the sun was playing hide and seek with the rain clouds and giant rainbows were overwhelming the landscape. I drove under the arch of two different rainbows on this road. Surely that must mean double good luck headed my way or something! As I approached the trailhead to Bruarfoss I considered the fact that it was raining against the amount of waterfall fatigue I was feeling and decided, nope, not gonna do it (I skipped out on seeing a waterfall at the tectonic plates as well, at this point I was feeling good on waterfalls). Next on my list was the Gulfoss Falls. No, I wasn’t excited for another waterfall but I felt I had to see since it was one of the main points of interest on the Golden Circle. But on my way there, I found myself at one of the geysers. I could tell because there as a giant commercialized tourist trap in a parking lot across the street that said “Geyser” in ten-foot letters. Obnoxious. I wavered on getting out but decided I should stop and see what it’s all about. I actually thought I was getting to geysers after Gulfoss and didn’t have this one on the list. The Geyser felt like being at Disneyland. So so so many people. The most people I’ve seen in one place since heading out of Reykjavik morning one! As the geyser erupted and people cheered I’m sure I was supposed to have been impressed. But I wasn’t. It was cute. I had seen some crazy geysers in New Zealand so the comparison was rough for this little geyser. There was a little hill above the geyser and I decided I might as well hike up it since I was there and see if there were at least spectacular views. There wasn’t. The most interesting piece was a rock formation on the side of a little cliff.
I was getting tired and conscious of the time. It was early evening and I still had to head back to Reykjavik and then be at the Blue Lagoon by 9pm. Next on my list was Gulfoss Falls, just ten more minutes up the road, and that would be my last destination out here for today. The parking lot at Gulfoss Falls was jam packed and so where all the viewing platforms. After so many days of peaceful exploring all these rabid tourists were driving me nuts. The falls were massive and I’m glad I saw them. I just wasn’t in the mood to be impressed anymore. From Gulfoss it was close to two hours to check in to my AirBnB in Reykjavik. Timing was tight. I should get there around 7:30pm. I figured that would get me time to find the keys, drop my stuff, and grab some dinner before the lagoon. I found my AirBnB fine, it’s ok. But when I arrived and checked my map to calculate how much time it would take to get to the Blue Lagoon I was shocked when it said 45 minutes. Crap, I didn’t have time for that!
I unloaded my stuff, grabbed my bikini, and headed back out the door immediately. The Blue Lagoon was fine. It is a geothermal seawater pool that is between 99 and 102 Fahrenheit. It was also a major tourist spot and had accommodations complete with restaurant, shop, locker rooms, and a bar down by the lagoon. I grabbed a glass of prosecco and walked into the warm mineral water. It felt great. The water is really a milky white but it looks blue when the sky reflects off of it during the day. The warm soothing water, a glass of prosecco, and a chat with a hottie and I was feeling relaxed again.
Today I drove a lot. According to Google maps, I spent about TEN HOURS driving today. I am sick of driving. I am sick of being cold. I think I timed the length of this trip just right because I am ready to wrap it up and get back home. As I think back on all that I’ve done this week it feels like a dream, but that could just be exhaustion. One of my favorite songs came on my music today, and I smiled as I listened to Baz Luhrmann pronounce that “the race is long but in the end it’s only with yourself” and “worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.” I like hearing those reminders every now and again.
Tomorrow I have about half a day in Iceland and then I catch a flight back to Chicago. One step closer to home!
Taking On the World 
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