Iceland Glaciers, Dwarves, and Lagoons

So our journey around the south coast of Iceland continues.  One stop I had been very excited to see was Fjaðrágljúfur Canyon.  Sadly the canyon had been closed due to poor trail conditions and was still closed when we arrived so we did not get to see it.

Along the way to the canyon the landscape was filled with moss covered lava formations.  We stopped at a roadside lookout to enjoy it.  I kept expecting to see an elf come out to greet us but they stayed hidden that day.

We visited Foss á siðu and Dverghamrar.  The first is a lovely waterfall that is also quite visible from the second stop.  Dverghamrar or Dwarf Rocks is a protected monument of a beautiful formation of columnar basalt.  People have long believed that dwarfs live there.  In 1904 a young girl heard singing form there that she believed was the dwarfs.  They were believed to be Christian dwarfs as they were singing a Christian hymn.

Our next landmark to see was Lómagnúpur.  As usual for our trip this landmark was mostly obscured by clouds but we did get a break to have a nice view.  This is one of Iceland’s most recognizable mountains.  It was once thought to be the home of a giant named Járngrimur.  He was said to have visited Flosi Þorgeirsson in a dream foretelling the fates of the band of men who burnt Njál, from the Saga, and his family alive inside their farm.  The giant of Lómagnúpur is believed to have been one of the guardian spirits that warded off foreign kings who wanted to conquer Iceland in the early years of settlement.  As a result Járngrimur earned a place on Iceland’s coat of arms standing with the guardian spirits of the other three quarters of the country holding his iron staff in his hand.

Today we would really start to have our first appreciation of the glacier.  I had always envisioned when I saw my first glacier that it would be a giant mountain of ice standing on its own in the landscape.  While some of that vision may be true when we first started to see tongues from the glacier I didn’t believe it was glacier.  I was looking for my whole ice mountain.  At Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park we were able to hike to a viewpoint over Sjónarnipa and we started to have a true taste of how far reaching the mighty glacier is.

We took the hiking trail that took us first to Svartifoss or Black Fall.  It is a beautiful waterfall surrounded by dark lava columns.  These columns have served as inspiration for Icelandic architects in areas such as Hallgrimskirkja church in Reykjavik.  From here we took a beautiful hike that led to us an overlooks of the glacial tongue, Sjónarnipa.  It was amazing.  We had hiked through fields and rocks

but now we were standing above a glacier!  I truly have no words that can adequately describe it to you.  But the next day would hold even more excitement as we were going on an actual hike on a glacier.

When we arrived to our hotel we called the Glacier Trips to verify their location and confirm our reservation.  We didn’t want another snorkeling incident.  We didn’t realize our hotel would be so far from the meeting point so we left early to allow ourselves plenty of time to arrive.  The meeting point was at Hólabrekka Lilja Guesthouse about an hour east of our hotel.  Just as we were thinking we had gone too far we saw it.  We went into the reception area and found the guesthouse busily serving breakfast to their guests.  We wished we had asked if we could have eaten there as we spent $30 per person on a breakfast buffet at our hotel.  No one seemed to notice us so we went outside.  We saw a man arrive in a Land Rover and open an outer building.  This was our guide.  I tried to repeat his name back and eventually learned it was Ragnar.  I explained that the history channel and the show Vikings have obviously Americanized the pronunciation!  Jeff and I were thrilled to learn we were the only two people signed up for the hike that day.  So once again we were privileged to have a private tour.

We would be hiking on Fláajökull.  And finally……we had sun!  We took the Land Rover from the farm to a parking area.  From there we hiked to the edge of a lake.  There were giant pieces of ice floating there.  We took a RIB boat ride across the lake to the edge of the glacier.  Here we were taught how to put on our crampons (I don’t know why but I’ve always wanted to wear some and was way too excited about this!) and how to use our axe.

We were told we should be fine walking on ice since we were from Texas.  You need to walk like a cowboy, Ragnar told us with your legs apart.  There is definitely a skill to glacier hiking and I found muscles being used that I don’t think get a lot of action.

Up we climbed to this amazing wonderland of crevasses and morays.

Being a Game of Thrones fan when Ragnar spread is arm and said, “Welcome to my wall,” I expected the night watch to appear at any moment.  I couldn’t get enough of this landscape and breathtaking beauty.  Ragnar put his ax down and taught us how to drink from the glacier.  Two thousand year old water is pretty tasty.  This was also the warmest I was on any day of our trip.  I actually stripped down to a single layer.  Now that we had proven ourselves Ragnar decided to have fun with us.  He took us on a longer hike and even let us peek in an ice cave at the bottom of the glacier.

The most difficult thing to wrap my head around is how much the glacier has shrunk.  He told stories of people who have lived in the area remembering the glacier on the other side of the road close to where we started.  A stark reminder of how changing the glacier is was when he showed us the pole they placed last year indicating where they had stepped on the glacier to start their tours last year.  It seemed like a huge change in a year to me.  This was about a five hour tour and we loved every minute of it.  I highly recommend Glacier Trips.  They are a small local company and very knowledgeable.  We were the only three people on the glacier that day.  They were considering cancelling the next day’s trip because of the weather forecast.  We felt very fortunate to have had this experience.

Jeff and I were pretty pumped after our hike.  We headed back the direction we came from to see the Glacier Lagoon, Jökulsárlón, and Diamond Beach.  We were pretty sure nothing would compare to what we had done earlier in the day.  But of course in true Icelandic form this stop would continue to enthrall and amaze us.  We opted not to take a boat ride on the lagoon because we had already experienced a private rib boat ride on a glacier lagoon.  I wish we had thought a little more about it or realized that kayaking was available.  But regardless just walking along the shore was mesmerizing.   I don’t know how long we spent admiring the blocks of ice.

Then we headed across the road to the beach.  We had great fun watching a block of ice that had broken free come under the bridge and make it to the waves by the beach.  Once again amazing.

We finally tore ourselves away from this beautiful place (after enjoying a Vatnajökull beer) and headed to Höfn to check into our hotel.  We finally enjoyed a lobster sandwich a very small, very busy diner called Hafnarbúdin teeming with locals.

All in all it was perfect day.