Glaciers Galore!

Day 5

We had a light rain off and on today.  It seems like the rain gods often save the precipitation for when we are in the car, clearing the clouds away while we are sightseeing!  

Typical Breakfast!

Today’s sightseeing was all about the glaciers.  It is along the southeast coastline where you find amazing views of several glaciers, including Vatnajökull.  We learned jökull translates to glacier, giving us a little excitement anytime we saw a word ending in jökull!  Vatnajökull is the largest glacier not only in Iceland, but in all of Europe!  It is such a recognized glacier that Vatnojökull National Park sits at its base.  

From the park’s visitor center, a trail leads you close to the base of this enormous glacier.  You are required to go on a guided walk if you want to actually walk on the glacier itself.  They were sold out the day we were there, but if I were to go again, I’d reserve it ahead of time and do this!  Vatnojökull covers about 3,200 square miles, making this single glacier close to the size Yellowstone National Park encompasses in its entirety.  At its deepest spot, it’s 2/3 of a mile deep.  Yep, sign me up for a guided walk.  Getting lost or falling in a crevasse sounds terrifying!  



Zoom in to see the people who have ignored rules and walked up to the glacier.  Positive note: it gives you a perspective of how large this thing is!

Another trail from the visitor center leads you up to a stunning view of Svartifoss.  Once you reach the overlook, you can descend to the base of the waterfall, which is totally worth the effort!  The view of water falling over a basalt wall is breathtaking!



Fjallsálón and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoons were our final stops for the day.  Once again, the kayak tours where fully booked, so we had to be content to view the icebergs floating in the lagoons from the shoreline.  We did find a small piece of ice washed up on the shoreline.  It was thrilling to hold a piece of ice formed from snowflakes that fell around 2,500 years ago.  Many of the huge icebergs floating in the glacier lagoon (sárlón) had a vibrant blue hue towards the bottom of them.  This blue color is formed from the incredible pressure exerted on it.  The weight of the glacier forces the air bubbles out of the ice, increasing its density and giving it the blue appearance.



We had been noticing the frequent one-lane bridges along “The 1” in this area.  We found it unusual, as there aren’t many roads in Iceland and this is the main road that circles the island.  Reducing the road to a single lane on a major road?  Really?   In Rick Steve’s book, he tells of a volcanic eruption in 1996 that caused one of the glacier lagoons to heat up and flood.  At one point during the flood, ten million gallons of water per second ripped through this area.  The mangled girders of a bridge remain by the roadside as a reminder of how powerful these floods are.  Apparently, these floods happen often enough and bridges need to be replaced often enough to influence the decision to simplify the bridge to a single lane.  Yikes!  This truly is the land of “Fire and Ice”!

Nightly planning session for the next day!

Up next:  Egilsstaôir


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