Iceland - Day 4

 The weather this morning was spectacular.  Cool, dry and sunny.  We checked out of our hotel and drove about a mile to the visitor’s center for Svinafelljokull,  We were told there was a nice hike to a waterfall, and great views of the Vatnasjokull glacier.  (We had a brief false start when Dave realized he forgot to leave his room key at the front desk, and had to run it back.)

Saw this on the way to the trailhead

The trails in the national park are amazing.

The first trail we took to the Svartifoss waterfall was about 10 or 15 feet wide with crushed stone that seemed to have been compacted by a machine and a mesh to hold it in place.  Even though there was an average grade of about 10%, the trail surface was so smooth that it made hiking up a breeze.  Half way up we encountered and additional waterfall, Hundafoss.

Svartifoss waterfall is about 150 ft. high and was easily accessed via a spur trail. The bright blue sky made for great contrast.

                                       

We continued east from the waterfall across a heath, all the while having great views of the Skaftafell Glacier and the adjacent mountains.

After about 5 km we reached the ridge above the glacier tongue and large pool with small icebergs that apparently have calved from the glacier. This pool fed a river that emptied out into the sea several miles away.  

We followed this river, the Austurbrekkur, dropping about 1000 ft. in about 2 miles, returning us to the Skaftafell Visitors’ Center.  We all agreed that this was one of the nicest hikes any of had ever taken.

It was now early afternoon, and the weather was holding.  We drove to our hotel in Klaustur, the Hotel Laki.  

We were unable to check-in, so we decided to do another, shorter hike here.  There was a waterfall (something Iceland has an obvious abundance of) nearby the hotel that was the start of a 3 mile loop trail, that we took.  

The trail rose sharply along the waterfall and at the top, there was a large pond and meadow that was used for grazing sheep (even more sheep than waterfalls here).  

The pond is called Systravatn, or Sisters’ Lake.  Legend has it that this was a frequent bathing pool for nuns.  One day, 2 nuns were in the water and they saw a hand reach up out of the water holding a golden comb.  The reached out to grab the comb, but were instead, pulled under, never to be heard from again.  Not sure I buy it, though.  More likely they had no idea how to swim, and drowned. 

In order to cross the meadow, we had to climb over the barbed wire that was keeping the sheep in,

then down a very steep slope to the lower pasture.

We climbed back over the barbed wire, back into civilization. We made a brief stop at an area of columnar basalt rods aptly named  Kirkjugolfid or “Church Floor” because it looks like a stone floor found in an old church.

 From here, we cut through a farm, dodging sheep pies all the way.

When we finally returned to the hotel our rooms were ready.  Unfortunately, when I booked the rooms, they were booked as cottages.  The hotel was beautiful.  The cottages were tiny, rustic, and a bit of a schlep to the main building where there was the restaurant, wifi, and  really nice rooms.  We tried to change, but of course, they were sold out.  These cottages are a throwback to the little motels along the road from the 1950’s.

It’s clean and the shower is hot, so I guess we shouldn’t whine too much.  We do have nice porches where we sat and drank some wine before dinner.  The stemware was not ideal, though.

Tomorrow we are taking a SuperJeep tour of the Laki craters.  The Laki volcano erupted between 1783 and 1786 and produced the largest lava flow of a single eruption in history. It killed 20% of Iceland’s population and between 50% and 80% of the livestock.  The enormous ash plume affected weather for about three years over most of the Northern Hemisphere causing an average temperature drop of 3 degrees F, and terrible weather for farming.  It was felt to be responsible for the rice famine in Japan, the Irish potato famine, and possibly, at least partially responsible for the French Revolution.  More to tell tomorrow.  The blog will have to wait until tomorrow, though.  Internet problems.