Iceland: Day 4

Day four was a lot of driving and a lot of stopping along the way.  We didn't have a particular agenda, just knew there were a bunch of waterfalls and other tourist stops along the main highway.  Our first stop was at Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall that you can walk completely around, and it falls 60m (200ft) from the cliffs to the ground.  Apparently this cliff face used to be the shore and the falls used to fall directly into the ocean, but obviously that is no longer the case.  In fact the ocean is at least 5km away from the falls now.

 Can you see me behind the falls?

Our second stop was another waterfall: Skogafoss.  Didn't learn much about this falls, but it too falls about 60m (200ft).

 Skogafoss had a long staircase leading up so you could see it from the top, and really affirmed what we already knew... waterfalls look more impressive from below.  The climb was long, but it was out of the wind and that was a nice break!

Our next stop was in a small village called Vik, which is the most southern community in Iceland.  Iceland is famous for it's black beaches.... and they really are something to see!  Vik's beach in particular is made up of the finest black sand, although it was a little too cool for thinking about sunbathing or swimming despite the sunshine.  It was pretty quite on the beach... just Josh and I some other photographer.

 Waves breaking (and being blown away) on Vik's black beach

A close up of the black stones in a  rockier area of the beach.

One of the reasons we went to Vik's beach was to see the "trolls" or sea stacks.  Ironically, because of where they were located we couldn't get a good look at them, but on our way out of town we stopped for gas and to look through a touristy shop and from the parking lot there was a great view of the stacks reaching up out of the ocean.

 Vik's church.  This is the typical church found all over Iceland.  The roof might vary in colour, but most were little white buildings with red roofs and a single bell tower over the front entrance.  And if they didn't look exactly like this... then they were some architectural invention with lots of crazy angles and unlike any building you have ever seen before.

 Further along our drive there were miles and miles of really old lava fields... all covered in moss.  It was endless, and resulted in a total loss of sense of space and distance.  

 Another little waterfall along the cliffs.  It was interesting how frequently at the base of a waterfall like this would be a farm.  Something to do perhaps with availability of fresh water and the large number of private hydro electric projects that provide power to the farms.

 Josh was really impressed with the Basalt coloumns that we saw through out Iceland.  They are usually hexagonal columns that result from rapidly cooling lava.  And the columns always run perpendicular to the direction of the lava flow.

 These ones were about a foot in diameter I believe.

Our next official stop for the day was at Skaftafell National Park.  Here we took an educational 2km hiking trail towards the base of the glacier.  It was windy as anything - the kind of wind you have to lean into so that it wont blow you over, and the wind was cold cause it was blowing off the glacier.  Every couple hundred meters there was a numbered post with information about something we could see from there.... things like info on Basalt columns and the this rock featured in the picture below:

 This lava rock is called tuff and is really a unique sort of colour.  It's formed whenever the erruption occurs under water (or under a glacier as was likely the case for this rock).

 Josh on the hiking trail trying to pretend it's not that windy and telling me I'm being a wuss. 

As close as we got to the bottom of the glacier.   When we started the walk we figured we were probably only about 2km from the glacier itself, but after walking the 2km trail we must have been at least another 2-4km away.  The vastness of everything really throws off perspective.  The trail only goes this far cause apparently quicksand is a big problem around the bases of glaciers in Iceland.  Who knew!? I always associate quicksand with tropics and The Princess Bride.

The only other stop we made on day four was at Jokulsarlon, but seeing how we went back on day five I've decided to put all the pictures from there up with the rest of day 5.