(Lin)

[Note: pictures at the bottom]

Camper-van-ing with teens and college-aged kids is interesting, since we all have different bedtimes and sleep needs. Some of the kids and I stay up late, but then we want to be up and on the road much earlier than they do. It’s been working, though. Today we woke up, made breakfast, some of us showered, and then I (Lin) did the usual emptying of the black water container “cassette,” draining the grey water in the designated place, and filling up the drinking water in the camper van. I also filled up with diesel before joining the others at a fun discount grocery store, where we refilled on some snacks, bread, milk, chicken, and other goodies. 

We hit the road and headed south, driving along Lagarfljót, a lake supposedly with a lochness-type monster in it. On the east side we drove through part of Hallormsstadhaskogur, supposedly the largest forest in Iceland (of which there are not many!). Around the southernmost tip was a beautiful waterfall named Hengifoss, famous for its red rock horizontal stripes. As we approached, it was quite visible from the road a ways back. We pulled into the parking lot and began the usual way-too-long process of getting shoes, jackets, water bottles, snacks, backpacks, cameras, etc. etc. The trail up was steep but well maintained – a lot of the larger, popular stops have sort of a plastic grating down to help with mud control as well as ice and snow (in the winter). On the way we passed a smaller waterfall, Litlanesfoss. We went up to the viewpoint to see Hengifoss, and quickly realized that people were hiking the quarter or mile up to the falls itself, so we did, too. It was actually really fun – a lot of rock hopping and navigating steep banks, etc. At the top you go right up to the beautiful blue pool that was completely obscured from down below. We spent some time taking pictures and wondering at the power of the falls. 

On the road again, our next planned stop was Stuðlagil Canyon, which was back a long-ish gravel roads. In Iceland, the roads are of varying qualities, with different restrictions placed on various kinds of rental vehicles. Many roads are paved (like the Ring Road, Rt. 1), but even when paved, they usually have zero shoulders and often drop off sharply either a few feet or dozens or even hundreds of feet. Guardrails are sparsely used for the most dangerous dropoffs. It can be quite nerve-wracking to meet a large bus or a tractor trailer barrelling toward you at 90 km on a road that seemingly barely fits the two side by side. We are both reasonably competent drivers, so within a day or two our nerves had steeled, but the camper van – and stick shift at that – felt like it took more energy and focus to drive on these roads. But there are also a lot of gravel roads of varying qualities. Sometimes they are fine, even if a little wash-boarded, and the camper handled those okay for the most part. But sometimes gravel roads had sections of potholes, etc. And sometimes paved roads can suddenly become gravel roads, too, which happened to us several times on the north and east fjords. And then there are F roads, which are gravel, rocks, rough, and limited to 4×4 vehicles. 

Anyway, the road to Stuðlagil Canyon was just a gravel road, but it was narrow, long, and perched on the edge of some steep slopes down to a river. Yikes. Unfortunately, I put in the wrong address to the west parking lot, which was noted online to be clearly inferior. So we turned around, backtracked and went up an even rougher road to the east side parking lot before walking 1.75 miles back to the canyon. There were lots of people there, but it wasn’t too crowded. The canyon is short and somewhat narrow lined with columnar rock formations that creates a unique look. The water can be a lovely blue certain times of year, but it was grey and milky now. We took some pictures, and I flew the drone through the canyon and around a bit. (Drones are generally permitted in Iceland, except in protected preserves and / or when there are posted signs. I generally observed those restrictions, of course.) 

Back on the Ring Road again, we decided to stop at Rjúkandi, a lovely waterfall very close to the road. There was a short and steep path leading up to a nice lookout, with very few people on it. The falls were high, and spilled down over several levels. I flew the drone a bit and could see the full scope of the falls much better from farther up and out. It was really lovely. 

From there we drove up, up, up into the highlands (although not the official off-road highlands), where the Ring Road gently winds its way across the most incredible barren landscape surrounded by distant mountains and peaks. It felt super surreal and remote – with zero houses or farms, but somehow still sheep occasionally! We drove for miles and miles (ahem, kilometers and kilometers) before arriving at an intersection with a teeny little store and gas station. We turned left there towards our campsite, and soon hit a gravel road that took us 8 minutes or so to drive back to the Campground Fjalladyrd/Mödrudalur. 

We immediately fell in love with this campsite – it was so quaint with sod-roofed buildings that also had sod stacked up on the side for insulation. It seemed like a working farm, too, plus a small restaurant and adequate camping grounds. And really, we were in the middle of a ginormous open expanse surrounded by a distant ring of mountains in all directions. I flew my drone in the beautiful dusk light, but it was hard to fully capture the expanse. 

Eden decided to set up her tent next to the van tonight – she was hoping to do some backcountry hiking/sleeping, but it doesn’t seem super permissible in certain areas. 

We decided on a motto for this trip: “You can always get closer.” As one does on family trips with way too much time on one’s hands, we spent way too long thinking about the various ways it applied: 

• You can always get closer to a waterfall (the OG application)
• You can always get closer as a family
• You can always get closer to going bankrupt (from this trip)
• You can always get closer to food poisoning (from foraging). 
• You can always get closer to dying (from getting too close to the edge of the cliff). 
• You can always get closer to having a good night’s sleep. 
• Etc.

For dinner we had an exquisite curry dinner led by Eden — so good. And now: bed!

(Note: click on the images below to see full size versions.)