All Good Things Must Come to an End
We love to travel, and we hate to be away (Iceland Part 6)
Day 6 (Saturday)
By Saturday, we were beyond exhausted and equally fulfilled. According to my Garmin watch, over the last six days, I had only gotten about 30 hours of sleep. Miraculously, I managed to keep my eyes open for another day packed with sights to see.
We started the day exploring Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, which is famously — and arguably pathetically — known as Bieber’s Canyon (because he filmed a music video there that forced a closure of the canyon due to the resulting influx of visitors). Our little group followed the trail up the side of the canyon to an incredible overlook just as the sun peeked out from behind some clouds.
After about an hour of hiking, we made our way back down the trail and Dave took off to find a spot to sip some water straight out of the stream (again, highly recommended — the water in Iceland is genuinely incredible!). Our next stop was a quick visit to the Eldraun lava field, the largest lava flow on the island. The moss-covered lava covers an expanse of about 220 square miles, and is actually where the Apollo 11 crew trained for their moonwalk.
That 10-minute stop was quickly followed by a lunch stop at Reynisfjarn black sand beach, one of the most dangerous and beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world. There are some incredible basalt stacks that form a small cave by the water:
The stacks are even cooler up close:
Similar to Nordic traditions, Iceland is big on myths and legends, specifically of the elf and troll varieties. According to Icelandic legend, two trolls were once playing in the waters here and dragged an old ship with three masts to the shore. Unfortunately, trolls, like vampires, cannot live under the light of the sun, and dragging the boat to shore took longer than they had anticipated. As the sun rose the following morning, both trolls were turned to stone:
It was snowing when we stepped off the shuttle, and the wind could have lifted a small child off the ground if they were left untethered by an adult hand (or leash, I suppose).
When the whipping sand was too much, we meandered inside to enjoy a warm lunch before heading to our final stop on the way back to Reykjavik.
The Last Stop
After climbing over 500 stairs1, from the trail atop Skógafoss waterfall (where water plunges over 60 meters), there are impressive views of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the one whose 2010 eruption shuttered airports across Europe for two weeks. Ironically, Iceland’s was the only airport that could remain open due to the direction the wind was blowing the ash, and since the name of the volcano baffled every newscaster across the globe, they started referring to it as E-15 (the first letter and 15 subsequent generally unpronounceable letters).
When Dave and I returned to the bottom of the staircase to check out the waterfall from below, we were annoyed by the number of people who disregarded the very clear and obvious visual signs saying not to walk in certain areas.
Despite the lack of respect by others, a beautiful rainbow appeared across the waterfall, which felt like a pretty fitting end to this grand adventure across the barely inhabitable island that is Iceland.
After a delicious dinner in downtown Reykjavik, we found some gelato inside a food hall. This might be too cheeky, but the views here are spectacular. We got a lot of incredible photos this trip, but we thought it prudent to take one last crack at capturing the night’s moon.
I guess it’s back to the grind, now, but Iceland hasn’t seen the last of us.
Day 1: Iceland: A Land of Fire and Ice
Day 2: Our Only Regret is Not Drinking More
Day 4: Mother Nature's Mic Drop
Day 5: You’ve Got to See the Matinee
Let it be known that, for the first time in our relationship’s 13+ year tenure, Dave could not keep up with me on the way up!
Wow those landscapes do indeed look otherworldly! I’ve always liked that exhausted but exhilarated feeling you get at the end of an adventurous trip.