After enjoying the sunshine through the window for breakfast I headed out under some blue sky to take a few pictures of the little town of Vik. It’s vastly more beautiful in the sunlight than the rain if I’m honest.
Then I hit the road towards Skaftafell. My first distraction was an isolated plateau/mountain called Hjorleifshofoi, I just mumble it and move on. Mostly I stopped because the lighting was fantastic and I knew it wouldn’t be that way on my return journey, that and I get distracted easily apparently.
The further I went the more distracted I got. I pulled over for several waterfalls and there was one in particular that I thought was amazing, I nicknamed it Houdini because it wasn’t a waterfall with a name. Because a picture couldn’t capture what this waterfall was doing, I experimented with my camera’s video function. GASP!
I must have spent about 20 minutes hanging out watching the wind blow the waterfall away before continuing on my merry way. I saw the cliffs get taller, and by taller I mean I could no longer see the top through the clouds… THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY! Sort of.
Well I rolled in Skaftafell around noon and of course I couldn’t check into my hotel yet, that would be far too convenient, I had to wait until 4… even hostels will let you check in at 2, 4 was a bit excessive. All the same, I just kept going and I made it all the way out to Jökulsárlón, also known as Glacier Lake. The glaciers that break off from the main hunk float through this lake before eventually making their way out to sea. I also headed across the road to see the sea and found a lot of broken glacier bits on the shore, they were awesome and so smooth! I can see why these ice hunks take forever and a day to melt.
On my way back to the hotel I still had time so I stopped over at Falljokull with the intention of visiting the ice caves. Well, as I was walking that way I realized everyone I was passing was carrying severe ice climbing gear and after the 30-minute walk from the parking lot to the caves, I realized that people die even with the proper gear, I don’t need to be that idiot dying without the proper gear. So I went and checked in and with annoyingly slow internet I checked for tours that could get me there with gear in the morning. Aside from the fact that there were none available, they would have been expensive so I’m not seeing the caves and I’m really bummed about that. But I did see a rainbow in the canyon so there’s that.
I didn’t get to see any northern lights last night so I’m hoping maybe they’ll be out tonight; I have a feeling it’s still a bit early in the year but I’m crossing my fingers anyway. Tomorrow it’s back to Reykjavik and I can hit up all the spots I didn’t get on the way out. Yay for passing things twice!