(Lin) By the time we woke up this morning, most of the campground had emptied out – people were likely off to early flights. A few of us showered and I made a breakfast of sautéed potatoes and ham (the potatoes slices were frozen, purchased a few days ago), plus Skyr (delicious yogurt) and cereal and hot chocolate. It was a gorgeous day — sad to be leaving with such good hiking weather!
We eventually pulled out around 10 am and performed the usual flush out and fill up before stopping by the gas station to top off the diesel before heading back to the rental company, Camper Iceland. There we spent nearly an hour repacking all of our suitcases (that we had left at the company’s office) and cleaning the entire van. Somehow it felt like we had more than we came with, despite eating most of the snacks and food we had brought from home. The rental company kindly provided a ride to the airport, and soon we were through security, etc., and eventually on the airplane for a 5 hour or so flight to Boston. As we took off, we got a gorgeous distant view of the Snæfellsjökull glacier on Snaefellsnes Peninsula, where we had just spent the last few days. We all wished it had been that clear the whole time we were there, but alas — you get the weather Iceland gives!
Ace was delighted to see us again (he stayed with a kind neighbor), and of course our usual beds will feel nice again, but we all noticed how much our eyes were bugging out with the huge living space of our house compared with the relatively small campervan quarters! It’s funny what you can get used to so quickly.
We’ve done a number of family trips together, including two bigger road trips (one in the US for five weeks, and one in Europe for three weeks), but this one ranks up there for a number of reasons. The campervan made it special and was a standout experience, one that we would do again in a heartbeat. But the incredible diversity of Iceland’s landscapes was truly unique – I’m not sure you can get everything from lavascapes to glaciers to fjords to green mossy cliffs to open beautiful highlands to rugged coastal views to black sand beaches all in one small area anywhere else in the world. It’ll be good to return to our normal lives in Rhode Island, but this was really an amazing experience.
This morning we had a lazy start, with everyone sleeping in far later than expected. Dad was up early (again) and this time retreated to the campground kitchen / dining area to make his coffee and work on pictures, the blog, and emails. He texted the family group chat around 8 am and asked to be let known when people woke up. He received no response to this, as most of us began to wake up around 9:30 am, if I recall correctly. We had stayed at Hellissandur Camping, which provided beautiful views last night, but was foggy and a bit overcast today.
After finally getting our things together and eating a common breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, hot chocolate, and whatever scraps we could find in the camper, we set off on a day of driving. We started in Hellissandur, which is known for its cultural features along the main roads. Numerous murals were spotted, ranging in topic from Icelandic wildlife such as arctic foxes and whales, to popular celebrities. We continued our tour through the town of Rif and along the winding coastal road to Kirkjufell. As feared, the mountain (and other surrounding mountains) was now shrouded in a cloud, making us glad we had hiked the night before!!. We snapped a few pics and then continued to the town of Grundarfjörður, perched on water and in Kirkjufell’s shadow. The architecture here is so interesting, with mostly very simplistic shapes, and saturated colorings. We saw lots of sheep and horses, as usual.
Our first hike of the day was to a fun waterfall named Grundarfoss, which included a scramble of rocks to get closer, as we always do. It had a nice, flat walk for most of it, which had a clear view of the waterfall the entire time, with a field full of horses to our right, and a mountainous wall covered with low-hanging clouds to our left. Elliot had to run back to the camper to take a life-altering poop, while the rest of us enjoyed a peaceful walk back. Dad flew his drone a bit as well, for one of the last times here! We saw that people were feeding and petting some of the horses, so most of us went over to join them in feeding the horses grass. One of them was trying to eat our hands and had big lips with a great personality. We decided to eat lunch there, too – a gourmet meal of lamb sandwiches!! Dad had gotten two lamb steaks at a grocery store a few days ago, and since we needed to empty the fridge, he decided to cook them for lunch instead. They were delicious.
Upon our departure from the waterfall, we decided to make one more stop, at Landbrotalaug Hot Springs. It required going back the roughest dirt and gravel road we have seen yet, and a short walk to a shallow lagoon that was fed by boiling hot spring water. Only Dad and I opted to bathe – the bottom was muddy and silty, but the water was deliciously warm. After a half hour or so, we trekked back to the camper and took showered off before hitting the road again.
Almost all of us promptly fell asleep as we began our longer drive back to Reykjavik. Many naps were taken during our daily driving, despite rather incredible scenery outside! Elliot and Mom are competing for most hours napped in the camper while on the road. As we approached Reykjavik, I saw Icelandic traffic for the first time— certainly an unusual sight, I would think, but we were arriving during rush hour. We all but ended our trip where we began, at Costco! It was funny to be back in the same spot where we started, as suddenly the past two weeks felt like a fever dream. Some of us wandered around Costco for a bit before ultimately not buying much other than an early pre-dinner. Others went into the nearby BONUS, where we loaded up on Icelandic goodies, including a large amount of candy.
To finish our driving for today and to make tomorrow a little bit easier, we pulled into Sandgerði Airport Camping. It’s a very compact camping ground, with small lots packed into rows. It has a nice sitting area, with a spot for people to leave unused groceries and pantry goods, as most people here are wrapping up their time in Iceland. We had a final dinner of pasta, chicken, and broccoli. We somehow got through our nearly 7 pound bag of pasta! We’re now (hopefully) settling down for bed soon, as I personally am quite drained. Our time here has been packed full of fun and exciting things, but I’m always grateful for these slower days in between. zzzzzzz
After a bit of overnight rain, we woke up to glorious blue skies and sunshine. The wind was still blowing pretty hard and is supposed to keep blowing for a couple of days, which makes driving the camper van on the narrow roads (with basically no shoulder and sharp dropoffs) a little more intense than usual. With temps forecasted to be near 60, Lin and Harrison broke out their shorts and claim to not have regretted their decision. While the temps haven’t been usual Rhode Island summer weather, with proper gear/attire, it’s been pretty pleasant most of the time.
Lin and Eden started their day with a morning run along the river we could see from our campsite and then crossed a bridge to a large island in the middle of the river to add some mileage around the island. After breakfast, we did the usual camp cleanup: water bottle refills and then jug refills at the campground’s outdoor kitchen sink; emptying out the camper’s gray and black water; refilling the camper’s water reservoir; and offloading our trash. Eden also packed up her tent after sleeping in it near the camper for a second night.
Our first stop was the Heimilisidnadarsafnid (really) Textile Museum just a few minutes from the campground in Blonduos. Eden, Keiran, and Jo enjoyed the small museum with quite a few exhibits: 1) modern knitting pieces that integrated stone, horsehair, and some kind of salt crystals; 2) traditional Icelandic attire; 3) embroidery (so, so intricate!); 4) the collections of an Icelandic woman, Halldora Bjarnadottir, who died in 1981 at the age of 108; she was an educator, crafter, collector, and women’s organizer, who donated all her belongings to the museum before her death; and finally 5) an exhibit about Icelandic wool and its uses, where Eden and Kieran carded and spun a bit of yarn using Icelandic wool and a drop spindle.
While we enjoyed the museum, Lin, Elliot, and Harrison headed to the gas station to fill up with diesel and figure out the engine coolant, which was very low. Then they grabbed a few groceries before picking us up at the museum.
Our next stop was Vatnsdalshólar, which required several kilometers on a bumpy dirt/gravel road to a gorgeous lookout over a lake surrounded by mountains and green valley. Kieran counted the 89 steps up the steep hill to the lookout where we enjoyed the surrounding view and tried not to let our hats blow away. A highlight for some of the kids was a lengthy visit from a local herding dog who showed up soon after we arrived and welcomed lots of petting and scritches. I think some are missing Ace more than others! Lin couldn’t resist a few minutes of drone flight in an attempt to capture the beauty of the location.
Then it was on to Kolugljúfur Canyon, again requiring some time on bumpy roads and a questionable use of the parking area by most of the people there, making it a little challenging to navigate around the potholes and puddles in the camper, but we succeeded and enjoyed another windblown walk along the rim of the canyon and then across the bridge to see the main series of waterfalls. It was really beautiful and just the right size. The huge falls are sometimes just too much! This one had multiple streams and levels and was lovely to watch, even if the canyon setting made it a wee bit precarious to view.
From there, we headed to the Kidka Wool Factory Shop in Hvammstangi to peruse the many Icelandic wool sweaters, blankets, hats, socks, mittens, wrist warmers, horse blankets, and who knows what else! Eden ended up with a pair of fleece-lined mittens and Jo got a book: How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnanson, but mostly we just poked around. Icelandic wool is quite rough and scratchy, so even though everything is beautiful, the reality of wearing a lot of it in our everyday lives kept us from big purchases.
Just up the road from Kidka is the Icelandic Seal Center, so we drove over to see if it was worth a visit and decided to skip it for a frolic along the nearby coastal path (Jo opted for a nap in the camper as she tries to shake the tail end of a cold).
Our final stop of the day (definitely a light day in terms of stops and number of steps) was at Erpsstadir Creamery on a dairy farm for delicious ice cream and Skyr. The views of the verdant valley, the cows mowing the grass just feet away, and a couple of adorable pigs provided the perfect setting to enjoy our treats and for the kids (and Lin) to spend on the inground trampoline.
We drove about three minutes to an idyllic campground (Saelukotid Arbilk) with fabulous views, arriving at a record early time just after 6:30 pm. After dinner, Lin and Harrison threw a football again. The weather was just perfect, and the sunset / dusk lingered forever.
Today we woke up and got moving relatively quickly to downtown Akureyri.
We had to make another trip to a nearby BONUS, where we once again splurged on never-before-seen candies, drinks, and other various items, while buying a few of the essentials. Many laps were taken around the store for some reason, which ended up including not one, not two or three, but four passes by the wall of candy. Harrison also grabbed a bag of special dog treats for Ace, who probably won’t know the difference anyways. Eden bought BONUS socks, Mom bought a BONUS bag, and Harrison bought a stretchy rubber poop-shaped toy in memory of Elliot, who had stayed in the camper. This poop has terrorized many. (Somehow extended time together has caused us to revert to childhood silliness, which is bonding and fun.)
We were greeted by adorable heart-shaped stoplights at intersections while we parked the van to explore a pedestrian street that consisted of shops, food vendors, and even a little playground. After window shopping an array of beautiful Icelandic clothing that would have required a secret inheritance from an unknown great-great-grandfather to purchase, us four children took our chances on a teeny pedal-powered merry-go-round of which the centrifugal forces threatened to send our speedy behinds flying off our seats. After that dizzying experience, we ordered a few incredible classic Icelandic hot dogs with all of the toppings from a food truck that very well might have been the best I personally have ever tasted. However, with the threat of our expiring allotted parking time, we hurried back to the camper and set course for a destination in the next little town with seaside geothermal hot tubs.
Dad and Eden had scoped out this location for a reason, though: the hot tubs were on an easily accessible beach, encouraging visitors to take a polar plunge in near-arctic waters before running for dear life to the hot tubs. And us, being visitors, did just that. I, Elliot D. (Dangerously-cold) Fisher, can testify that the freezing shock was not only extremely cold but also painful in particular to the leg and foot region. It was the kind of experience that absolutely sucked but also felt completely necessary because you’re there and simply have to do it. The hot tubs were a very nice remedy to the cold, and we kept returning to after subsequent plunges. [For the record, it was a super fun experience repeatedly going from the cold to the hot and back again – a highlight for many of us.]
At the recommendation of one of Eden’s friends, we stopped in Dalvik at Gisli Eirkur Helgi Kaffhüs for their soup of the day, which was a curry fish stew. It was absolutely adorable: a large counter full of mismatched china plates with trays of bread and salad and soup greeted us when we walked in; there were pastries in a display to the right; and the wooden walls were full with Icelandic knickknacks. It was awesome. Too bad we didn’t stay longer because the upstairs was adorable, too, with simultaneous views of nearby mountains and the fjord.
The next large chunk of our day was occupied by driving up around the northern part of Iceland, following the outline of the fjords. Tunnels that were enormous in length and dangerously confined in width provided us with feelings of claustrophobia in the wake of mountains above our heads. Some of the tunnels featured a single lane for two way traffic. Our only saving grace against the onslaught of a couple oncoming cars were the frequent pullover stops. There did not seem to be any rhyme or reason to the order of cars, but we didn’t want to risk anything so we dutifully pulled over whenever we saw headlights coming our way. There were some fear-inducing blind turns along the way, so I guess the Automobile Safety Guild of Iceland had gone on strike during the construction of the tunnel. Luckily, we made it through with no vehicular collisions.
Hi it’s Kieran again. After the scary tunnels, we took a group vote on whether or not to stop at a waterfall called Reykjafoss with a hot spring along the top of it, or to just continue straight to the campsite for the night. After a thrilling vote (almost everyone saying that they had zero preference), we decided to head to the waterfall, as it was still rather early. Stepping out of the camper, we were greeted with heavy winds and looming storm clouds, which looked ready to dump rain at any moment. Despite the weather conditions, we dutifully headed along the short trail, huddled in groups to conserve energy. The waterfall was beautiful, and the rain stayed at bay, thankfully. We crossed a small bridge as Dad successfully flew the drone in such high winds. Over the bridge and a small rise to the top of the waterfall, we were protected from the winds, and found two hot springs. One of which was scalding hot and empty, and the other being a reasonable temperature with a few other people also enjoying the warmth. Eden wasted no time in getting in, while alternating between the cold river plunge and the hot spring. She finished up, and we all headed back to the camper, being goofy along the way.
Before we had gotten to those falls, the four kids had decided to continue our watch through of the Cars series, inspired by Eden’s Lightning McQueen pillowpet, whom she had brought along. We started Cars 2, and finished it up on the way to Víðimýrarkirkja, the Víðimýri Turf Church, a cute small sod-roofed church in the middle of a giant field. From there we headed to the Tjaldsvaedid Blonduosi campground in the small town of Blonduos, which was a little over half an hour away from the waterfall. Today was a bit of a tough driving day for mom and dad, since we were going up around one of the northern “fingers” of Iceland. The roads are narrow, the winds were high, and sometimes the pavement switched to gravel for no reason. Luckily, we don’t have to drive!
We found a nice spot in the campground by the river, and quickly set up for a dinner of leftovers, which included mac & cheese, tikki malasa, and Eden’s curry. Halfway through dinner, a cat was spotted out of one of the windows, and Kieran naturally jumped up and out of the camper to pursue it. The cat was lovely, happily being scooped up into Kieran’s arms and spending close to 20 minutes in a warm bliss in Kieran’s lap on one of the camp chairs outside. But, as always, nature called so the cat returned to the wild in a hunting stance. We now find ourselves in the camper, getting ready to sleep soon, hopefully earlier than last night. The evening was pleasant, so Eden opted to set up her tent again and sleep outside, serenaded by the lovely river sound right next door. zzzzzzz
Today was a lazy morning since it started raining before we got up, and our first planned hike is essentially right next to the campground. We made pancakes again, but this time with the huge cache of wild blueberries we picked yesterday while walking through the lava fields of Dimmuborgir. They are smaller and a teeny bit tarter, but excellent. By the time we wrapped up breakfast, cleaned the camper a bit, and a few of us showered, the rain had subsided. We drove deep into the “U” of the Asbyrgi canyon and did a short circle hike right up to the teeniest little waterfall trickling down the face of the cliff into a lovely green-blue pool. On the way out, I (Lin) followed the camper van with the drone, since the road was narrow and we were going slowly.
We stopped briefly for fuel at the only gas station and mini-mart in Asbyrgi (which is not a town at all) before heading north to the coast, where we saw the North Sea for perhaps the first time. As the road wound up along the side of the cliffs, we stopped twice, first to see the views, and second to see puffins! We were high on the cliff but could clearly see puffins in the water below, flying around and diving for food. Occasionally one would land higher up on the cliffs for us to have a clearer view. The panorama sea view from up high was majestic, with a blue sky and widely variable water hues in the distance ranging from Caribbean blue to deep dark ocean blue.
[Eden here] From there we continued wrapping around the coast of the peninsula, continuing to get gorgeous views of the water, and, as we started to head south, of the mountainous peninsula to the west. We also saw an arctic fox! In its summer outfit of gray fur.
The arrival to Husavik was every bit as dramatic as hoped. Mom and I have been scheming about this moment for a year and a half now, ever since we thought about journeying to Husavik in 2024 to pay homage to the setting of the Eurovision movie. We cheered when we passed the town sign. Our first stop was the Jaja Ding Dong Bar and the Official Eurovision Museum. We sampled some local food (lamb soup + skyr) and Mom and Kieran and I visited the museum, which gave info on Eurovision, Iceland in Eurovision, and the movie itself. It was entertaining. The bar (which was created after the movie was released but looked nothing like the movie version) has a fabulous view of the Husavik harbor backdropped by the town itself and, beyond that, an amazing green hump of land. Visually it’s by far my favorite town we’ve been in, and that’s excluding exposure bias from having seen it on screen, too. :~) The bar is also located right next to a monument to the Apollo space mission because they had “geology field trips” in Iceland in 1965 and 1967. Random. After the museum we met Dad+Elliot+Harrison at a restaurant for some rare restaurant food (pizza and some local fish!), and then menaced the streets for a bit (church, rainbow road, outdoor gear shop, crafts shop, souvenir shop, gas station) before heading out again.
We continued south to Þorgeirskirkja, a church built in 2000 to commemorate a millenium of Christianity in Iceland, and then to Goðafoss, the last stop on the so-called Diamond Circle and the place where Porgeir allegedly threw in his heathen gods as a symbolic act of dispensing with heathenism. We liked these falls a lot: cute canyon, nice water color, impressive volume of water without being overwhelming. The bigger falls aren’t as fun because you don’t get the intimate experience of getting close to the source but it was still pretty. We saw yet another rainbow on our way out.
From there we followed the ring road westish towards Akureyri, the capital of the north, first poking along in the valleys between big sloping mountains patchworked by pockets of farmland and then cutting through one such mountain via a 7km tunnel (the only paid one in Iceland) that dumped us out on a fjord overlooking Akureryi. Our first and only stop in town was to see the Botanic Garden, which I’ve been excited about for a while. It had an awesome spread of arctic/local plants and an impressive array of other species too — impressive given both the northern location and small size of the garden. We stayed longer than I expected to but not as long as I would have wanted. My plant knowledge is eroding rapidly, sadly (from college classes, thesis research, etc.).
The campsite wasn’t far away from downtown Akureyri, and we are now parked in a grassy field with 180 deg views of mountains/valleys/fjords. It is awesome. As we were driving in we could see the evening sun on the slopes across the fjord while also seeing rain in two valleys to the southeast. Hopefully we get up early enough to explore more of downtown tomorrow, too, since this is allegedly the capital of the north!
We finished the evening by eating hotdogs and leftovers while watching Cars movie, the laptop propped against the window with mountain views in the background. We love that movie.
Today was nice. We are maybe officially hitting the midtrip energy slump and it is nice to have days that match that. Also fun to walk around town(s)!
Note: you can click on the pictures for larger versions and/or a gallery.
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.)
Motivation to beat the shower lines was an excellent alarm clock this morning — we were miraculously all up by 8! I forced myself to do a quick run down to the edge of the ocean but unfortunately that meant I had to wait in a shower line after all. But then we were on the road by 9:25 (record time! and freshly clean!) heading southeast back along the ring road to Hofn, a tiny seaside harbor town. Hofn seemed a bit sad. It was mostly hotels. We stopped for a toilet and gas and left immediately.
Oh wait — Dad just reminded me that before Hofn we stopped at a Viking village recreation on the same property as our campsite. If I am remembering correctly, that was the original site of the first village in Iceland! We had fun poking around, particularly on the ship. We made a brief stop at Stokksnes, another black sand beach, before going to Hofn.
After Hofn we saw the Red Chair, literally just a big red chair bolted to a rock on the side of the road, before a short but fabulous frolic to Skútafoss. The trail was in a small valley between two massive slopes extending upwards on either side of us, and the view ahead was of more similar foggy mountains. All of the adjacent mountains (like at Vestrahorn) have these wildly craggy tops that jut out of slopes seemingly made of rock piles. Harrison scrambled up to the base of the rocks and that gave us a sense of the scale. The waterfall itself wasn’t massive but we had a fun time crouching behind it and poking around in the adjacent cave and taking a million pictures. I really regretted not bringing my suit because the water was a gorgeous turquoise and the cave would’ve been the perfect shelter to dry off afterwards. Next time, I told myself, but I still have yet to swim.
We stopped at the Hvalnes Nature Reserve Beach to eat a hot lunch. This would have been a perfect beautiful amazing drone shot — Route 1 bends around the blunt peninsula in a gorgeous way, with the peaks jutting up dramatically above it — except that a layer of fluffy gray clouds covered most of the peaks. Grand Tetons 2.0 for Dad [meaning that during our cross country trip in 2016, the Teton mountain range was completely shrouded in fog and clouds when we visited, much to Dad’s disappointment]. It was still an incredible place to pull out the camping chairs and eat our leftover noodles and sandwiches. Dad’s drone was fully tested by the winds, but it handled it like a champ.
After that, the weather mostly cleared up and the rest of the day was an adventure weaving in and out of the fjords! aka the most insane views ever. Such diversity of beauty!! It was a pretty awesome afternoon, interspersing the driving with lots of rounds of Liars’ Dice, and interspersing the Dice with looking out the window at the insane view, and interspersing the looking with lots of stops:
We stopped at:
Lækjavik, a black sand beach with nice views but not as beautiful as the one near Vik;
Djúpivogur, another little coastal town that was much cuter than Hofn and had an awesome public sculpture art of 34 eggs (Eggin í Gleðivík) arranged in a line along the coast, one for each species of bird that is found in that area;
Blábjörg, incredible green rocks along the coast formed by volcanoes and some other cool science;
Stöðvarfjörður, a little coastal town (actually we did not stop: just drove through);
Fáskrúðsfjörður, another little town that was settled by the French and thus has French flags flying and all the street names are labelled in French and Icelandic;
Gilsárfoss, a last-minute decision to stop and hike, which ended up being my favorite part of the day: a perfect tundra-esque landscape to collect tufts of sheep wool as we meandered up the hill with the riverbed far below, until we went down to meet it at the waterfall, which again fell into a beautiful pool of turquoise water and had caves to explore. Kieran discovered clay(!!), and along the way back we realized that what we had thought was a pizza oven might actually be a kiln! And I picked wild blueberries. This hike felt magical – we were completely by ourselves surrounded by towering mountains, the fjord, and the falls.
And now we are at the main campsite in Eskifjörður, the biggest town (city?) we’ve been in since probably (definitely?) Reykjavik. It is on the shores of a long lake (Lagarfljót) that we will drive around tomorrow. Dad and I are sitting in the laundry room waiting for our stuff to come out of the dryer. It is taking forever (Dad waited until 12:30 am for it to finish!). Our campsite is at the edge of a small woods, and earlier Harrison and I ran up the trails in it to a small rocky overlook with views of the campground and nearby lake. It was epic. We ate tortellini for dinner sitting outside in our camp chairs.
Today felt different for some reason. The fjords felt yet again really unique, we did not see many other people, the waterfalls were smaller but less crowded, and the dice was a fun way to pass the time. Not that any of us are wanting time to pass! Dad and I just mapped out the rest of our nights here. We all agree that it feels like we’ve been here forever — and yet the end is already within sight. So much to do! :~)
Up until now we’ve been experiencing Iceland Deluxe with the relative lack of wind and overall blue skies — it wasn’t until this morning that we got the full gray skies and drizzle combo that we were anticipating for most of this. We compensated accordingly by sleeping in and making pancakes and eggs and getting off to our latest start yet, which is still almost acceptable because we are still “jet lagged.”
The rain feels very far away right now because we are currently driving northeast along the Ring Road in southeast Iceland at — spoiler alert — the most perfect of golden hours, with the sun illuminating the grasses in an insane glow. We’ve seen several rainbows as we drive in and out of gentle rain. It is stunning. There are massive mountains to the south behind us and we are driving along mountains that alternate between slopes and sharp cliffs down to the flat plains. We just passed the little town of Hofn.
Now we’re at our campsite for the night.
Returning to the morning: We rolled out of camp around 11:30 and headed west back along Route 1 to Fjaðrárgljúfur, a stunningly green gorge featured in the official Game of Thrones trailer (which only Dad knows). The misty atmosphere was perfect for the location. The view up the canyon from the initial bridge was almost better than the subsequent two lookouts, but all of it was of dark gray rocks covered in beautiful bulbous green moss, with a river flowing serenely down at the bottom. A couple smaller “foss”es trickled down the edges. We did not venture the whole way to the big foss at the end of the trail, but Dad got some thoroughly epic drone shots, so we essentially saw it all.
Then we resumed our voyage eastward, driving close to an hour to Svartifoss, a waterfall located near a massive tongue of the big glacier Fjallsjökull (which is much larger than the state of Rhode Island). It was raining slightly for the start of the hike but cleared up by the end such that we were sweating in the sun. As the saying goes, if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, wait 10 minutes and it’ll be worse — except we again are getting lucky with the sun! I really liked this hike. It was a nice meander upslope along paths that were alternating packed gravel, gravel with plastic grates, and wooden stairs. The waterfall itself was actually unique to the ones we’ve seen so far (I have lost track of the total) — it flows over the edge of a cliff composed of the hexagonal columns of rock like at Reynisfjara, the black sand beach of yesterday. Dad, Elliot, Harrison, and I took a longer frolicky way back across the other side of the gorge, which gave us amazing views of the valley below and glacier farther to the east. It was hard to fathom the scale of literally anything but it was fantastic. We rejoined Mom and Kieran halfway down and frolicked together the rest of the way back. I should start a word bank of the limited vocabulary we employ as a group. We could have most of our conversations using only 20 key words.
Next was a short drive to the adorable turf-roof Hofs Church and then a bit farther to the Fjallsjökull (glacier) viewpoint. After a very short walk we were rewarded with a stunning view of the massive crevasse-y glacier extending up up up up beyond the small glacier lagoon. Perhaps I will let the pictures tell the story. I lay in the sand with my eyes closed and tried to quiz myself on the details so that I could have the image seared into my brain, but it still isn’t worth my words to describe. The scale is awesome in the truest sense of the word. We took some ridiculous pictures and loaded back up once more…
… only to stop not far down the road at another viewing point! First we went seaward to Diamond Beach, a famous black sand beach where chunks of glacier wash up on shore. The chunks of glittering ice give the beach its name. Unfortunately for us, ice does not fare well in August, so we only saw small diamonds, but it was magical all the same. We meandered under the bridge to the other glacier lookout (Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon) and spent a delightfully long time staring at the beauty there, too: massive chunks of blue and white floating in a massive lagoon before the enormous glacier sprawling down from above to meet the water. There were a million seabirds in the sky, and soon we realized there were also a million seals! We sat on a picnic bench and just stared for a nice while as Dad captured both locations from above before joining us.
Then we started our glorious golden hour drive, following the road as it wove along the coast and among cliffs and rained on and off. So, so, so beautiful.
We got to our campsite at Vestrahorn, a small campground perched at the base of a towering row of peaks, with an expansive shallow black sand bay and beach stretching out in the other direction. We were a little worried about not getting a spot there but they still had room! Unfortunately, the views were dampened by the low cloud presence that obscured the peaks, but it felt a little like we were at the end of the world. Dad got his drone time; we ate pasta and sauce and hot dogs; and were in bed at a semi-reasonable hour.
This morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit. A quick breakfast and the usual routine of emptying out the black water “cassette” (from the camper toilet), draining the grey water (from the sinks) in the appropriate place, and filling up the camper water tank, we were on the road.
Our first stop was the majestic Seljalandsfoss. We were still firmly in high tourist territory, so we weren’t surprised by the full parking lot and crowds. Still, very doable, and we found a spot. We followed the line behind the waterfall, which is very cool – a once in a lifetime experience, it felt like. We had read on the blogs to wear full rain gear, which we did and were very glad for!
We then followed the trail to the right along the cliff to a second major waterfall that is in a cave – a not so secret waterfall. It was extra misty and wet in there, but we had fun taking a few pictures. Once outside again, we shed our waterproof outgear, spread them out to dry a bit, and flopped on the lovely grass in the sunshine. We eventually meandered our way back to the van and hit the road again.
We passed by a few drive-by sites, including the Fence of Bras (just what it sounds like). We did not contribute. We also stopped briefly at Drangurinn í Drangshlíð 2 — short stop to see UNESCO turf-covered houses. Very cute.
Next up was the powerful Skogafoss – a big single classic waterfall that is visible from the Ring Road. I ran up the stairs and back along the trail to follow the river as it made sooo many other waterfalls. Absolutely insane idyllic frolic of my dreams. The others entertained themselves infinitely with crazy pics close up to the base of the thunderous thing. I got soaked after I ran and it was epic.
From there we drove a kilometer or so to Kvernufoss, where we parked, used the restrooms in the museum, and then walked back a long (1-2 mile) trail into a beautiful moss and grass covered gorge with the falls at the end. It was much less crowded and super nice, and we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to go behind it, too! So much for that once in a lifetime experience. Dad got to drone, too,. The colors today were absolutely unreal: bluest skies, greenest slopes, brownest rock, whitest clouds, rainbowest rainbows. Amazing. We saw sheep on the way there and on the return.
Our next stop was at Sólheimajökull, which is one of four larger glaciers in Iceland!! We hiked out the trail in the partial rain, and the fatigue finally started to hit us again. (As a side note, the rapidly-changing weather systems is something we all have noticed already! You can drive from sun to rain to sun again in just a short time.) Mom and I had seen this during the winter in Jan. 2024, and it looked so different in the summer. We got up close and got to touch some of the glacier itself. It was an awesome experience to see it expanding upward into infinity. Dad’s drone shots were amazing – he was able to fly up into and over the glacier.
A stunning drive with sweeping mountains and vistas led us to Reynisfjara: Black sand beach!! Sadly, we realized we were out of time and couldn’t hit Dyrhólaey, which had strong puffin potential. But the beach was amazing – wish we had had more time to stay longer ~~ towering columns to the left, beautiful rocky outcropping to the right, stunning scary sea in front with waves that appeared out of nowhere, and a beach of perfectly smooth stones in which to wiggle your toes underneath. Made a lot of penis jokes with said rocks. I decided to run 1 mi down the beach while dad flew the drone.
With our energy flagging, we drove to Vik, where we stopped to see the church on the hill and gas and groceries. Super cute.
It was getting late, but we had another leg of driving to do, eastward, with the sun slowly setting. One’s sense of time gets warped here during the summer, since they have something like 18-20 hours of legit daylight, and the “night” is 3-4 hours of civil twilight – never full darkness. It makes for a great full day of sightseeing, but means it can get late without you realizing it. Anyway, Iceland had one last surprise in store for us – a huge mossy lava field that came out of nowhere. The landscape past vik quickly flattened out into infinity to the right and flat until the sharp increase of mountains and beyond that another even more massive glacier. And then, suddenly, both sides were covered in rocks covered in moss. Other worldly and amazing and we stopped for a short frolic while dad tried to capture it with the drone.
Our campsite was pretty much a field that someone charges to use! Dad checked in with a lady in a car and we were all set. Although after we started dinner (tikka masala!), we decided to change locations, which led to us “driving while cooking” and “offroading cooking” say Kieran and Elliot. I missed that portion for a frolic since I was out for a run again!. We ate dinner outside on our folding table and chairs and would have been on track for an 11pm bedtime if we were not all six of us yoppers. It was so lovely and relaxing to be outside in the forever dusk.
Today we: Woke up and enjoyed the insane wind blustering across the lake towards us. Had a search and rescue party spread out to locate my phone, which ended up being inside the campervan. It felt amazing to get a full night’s sleep.
After a simple breakfast of hot oatmeal, cold cereal (including Weetabix!), orange juice, and coffee (for dad), we finally got on the road (maybe by 1030?). We headed to Kerið Crater, where we walked the ridge high above the lake and then the perimeter of the volcanic lake down in the crater. Before leaving we sampled some Icelandic lamb soup from the food truck in the parking lot. Yum, although not all of us are huge fans of lamb.
Then we backtracked north again to Þingvellir National Park: insane beauty. The kids table made sandwiches for all as dad drove, an epic reversal of normal roles as we passed sandwiches forward to Mom and Dad. The park was beautiful and blustery: meandering between walls of volcanic rock, views upon views, an impressive waterfall, Dad’s ideal drone shot (drones weren’t allowed, but he still got nice pics), skipping through the canyon, poking along through woods that reminded us all, separately, of our favorite New Hampshire camping spot, Pawtuckaway State Park, convo about our individual funny manifestations of benign OCD stuff as we walked towards the church, and back up again to the entrance.
On the way out of the park the kids table constructed a charcuterie board, which was infinitely fun to create and pass forward to the driving team.
We impromptu stopped at a dairy farm recommended to us by the visitor’s guide I picked up at the penis museum, run by four siblings. We shared some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had while watching the milk donors themselves, and then got a start on the digestion while bouncing on an insane inflatable bouncy bubble while Mom chatted with Lancaster girls.
Our next stop was Geysir, the OG geyser that all others are named after, apparently. It erupts pleasantly frequently, like every 5-7 minutes. We watched a few cycles, took pics and vids, and walked around a few of the other geothermal features before escaping the sulfur smells.
Then to Gullfoss waterfall: what some have claimed is the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland and more beautiful than Niagara. It was beautiful. Misty and rainbowy. I feel like I should write more about this and less about the dairy farm but by this point we (I) were feeling a little sleepy. It was stunning and I was really glad to see it but I also think waterfalls scare me enough that I’m not overly excited to keep seeing them. Bad news for tomorrow!!
Then to the Friðheimar tomato farm. The main restaurant was closed but we sat at the bistro, sharing tomato soup and filling up on bread. We ate under the grape vines and adjacent to the tomato greenhouses. Today was very farm to table — since we also split a lamb soup at the crater. I guess there’s a huge incentive to eat local given the constraints of importation.
Then a beautiful almost-sunset drive south to finally meet up with Route 1, the Ring Road, to pass through Hella for our campsite tonight. It is part of a camping pass that we bought for not much and means we have hundreds of neighbors but you would never know it once the blinds are up.
Dinner quickly became legendary, and involved ramen. Except it was spicy ramen because I didn’t read the label but just got excited about it because all of my friends eat it. But importantly none of us had tried it before. I put in three packets of soup base for five ramens and it was still the spiciest ramen I have had in a long time.
The legend: Elliot asked how much we would pay him to drink the dregs of his broth. Harrison said $5. Elliot began drinking. Now that I’m writing it is infinitely less funny to articulate into words so maybe I’ll stop. But mission successful and Elliot is now $5 richer.
All of this is so deeply insufficient but just need to put SOMETHING down.
Dad was commenting today about how it is interesting that almost all of the sites have a parking fee but no per person entrance fee. In a way, a larger family benefits from this policy, although we were comparing it to the US, where for the national parks, at least, you could buy an annual pass that would give you affordable access to all of the sites. We are paying approximately $12 per place to park the camper and have always found a way to squeeze in somewhere. Both mom and dad are getting proficient at parking in tight spaces!
Fisher Family Travels 