2 posts tagged “vatnajökull”

Detifoss

Detifoss is the largest waterfall in Europe by volume of water discharged.  The foss is fed by melt from the Vatnajökull glacier, which is the largest glacier in Europe.  Detifoss is in a remote, desolate part of northeast Iceland.  One must take a 45 km (28 miles) dirt gravel out to the falls.  Luckily the speed limit on these gravel roads is 80 kph (50 mph), only 10 kmh less than the paved roads. 

Noosha under a double rainbow
(We loved the freedom of being able to walk up to the waterfall and cliffside)

 

Hverarond Mud Pits

The Hverarond mud pits are probably one of the worst smelling sights one should ever visit.  The pungent odor of sulfur hits you the moment you step outside the vehicle, and proceeds to get worse the closer you get.  However inspite of the smell the location of the pits and the pits themselves are spectacular. 

 

Lake Mývatn

The Lake Mývatn area is the garden location of Iceland.  Located in the north of Iceland the lake is situated in an active volcanic region and is know for lush vegetation and abundent wildlife including fish, birds (especially duck), and insects.  The name of the lake is Midge Lake named for the resident irritant in abundance, the Midge fly. 

We toured two areas around the lake.  The first is an area known for numerous pseudocraters.  These craters were formed by lava covering pools of water.  The water was heated to such a temperature they exploded creating craters from the lava.  The pseudocraters are now covered in grass and are quite striking.

The second area we visited was a small penninsula that was gated and had several small walking trails.  The penninsula was forested and had many beautiful views of the lake and its wildlife.  We were there on such a beautiful day the lake was amazing.

Brian finally got a good photograph of the lichen in Iceland

By Brian (and sometimes Noosha)

In Iceland jökulls (pronounced yo-kull) aren't the strange folks you see living in small town, they are glaciers - like Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe.  We saw many portions of several jökulls along the southern portion of the Icelandic coast and again across the interior. 

I was fortunate enough to walk a very short distance onto a section of a glacier after dinner on our first night.  I went out by myself about 9:00 PM.  It being summertime in Iceland, there was plenty of day light.  I didn't get any photos of myself and the only photo I took didn't really turn out all that well.  The ice at the foot of a glacier is almost black from all the debris.  The water running off the glacier was extremely cold.  It took several minutes for my hand to warm after less than 30 seconds in the water.  The water is laden with sediment and thus is cloudy.  One can see less than a half inch below the surface. 

We were able to get close to the foot of one section of the Vatanajökull in the Skaftafell National Park.  Here is a picture of Noosha standing on a section of ice at the toe of the glacier. 

As you can see it looks like she is standing on dirt but under the dirt and rocks is solid ice.  There were plenty of large boulders caught up in the slow moving ice formation.

 

Jökulsárlón (Iceberg Lagoon)

One of the more beautiful things we saw on the trip was the Jökulsárlón or iceberg lagoon at Vatnajökull.  The lagoon is full of icebergs from the Vatnajökull glacier.  Some even drift out to sea through a narrow river outlet.  The lagoon was so peaceful.  We enjoyed a relaxing few minutes resting by the lagoons edge and skipping rocks in the still water.  Noosha made some rock art, adding to the collection of existing structures.

Noosha's rock art

Yep that's me in shorts on the edge of an iceberg lagoon with a glacier in the background. 

It was warm I promise!

The strangest thing unfolded as we were leaving.  We saw a bus full of Indians (people from India) walking over the rise leading to the lagoon.  At first we thought it was just a tour group but then we noticed camera and sound equipment being hauled up and over the rise.  It turned out they were filming an Indian movie at the lagoon.  Here we are Americans traveling in a more remote part of Iceland seeing an Indian movie about to be filmed.  This is truly a small planet we live on!

Part of the Indian film crew carting the camera over the rise to the iceberg lagoon