Day 20: Hrafntinnusker to Alftavatn

Again, we can refer to this one as Hiking Day 2. It's difficult to even ask Gummi about something we have seen - trying to pronounce one of the campsites is about as helpful as communicating telepathically.

Last night was freezing. We had on double socks, double pants, hats, and jackets in our "35 degree" sleeping bags on top of insulated sleeping pads; and we still woke up regularly to tuck our heads back inside the sleeping bag, put gloves on, or even pass around the "hot water bottle" that Tina made out of a Nalgene. We were all tired and got some good rest despite the cold, although Tina claimed to not have fallen asleep the entire night. She asked how we were awake and was caught in her lie when we said the buzzing alarm clock that we couldn't shut off right away zipped up to our hats in our mummy bags. We were just fine getting up early to get moving and try to get to the next camp "before the weather came in."

Our daily stats should prove that the hike was tougher today - about the same distance took us 30 minutes longer to cover because of the steep terrain. The descents prove to be the most challenging as a wrong step is far more dangerous with gravity trying to suck you down the slope. Hiking poles are harder to use too - though they were a great comfort to balance at times. The melting glaciers provided us with some of the most interesting terrain of the day. We forded our first ice cold river, checked out a huge glacier cave, and had to take a few leaps of faith onto quickly diminishing ice. (And we aren't even talking on a geological scale, on which they are contributing far more.)

After a little healthy competition playing cards last night, we are all fighting for points. Tina got one for her water bottle ingenuity, making our lunches, and for having the handiest towel after fording the river. Steph got points for staying gluten free and being the first to fall gracefully, but she lost them all for "generously" sharing her water to lighten her load. Gummi got points for all of his impressive handrail/guardrail impersonations for Tina, for teaching us some Icelandic words, for telling some German guy that he "forgot" his cigarette butt, and for carrying the heaviest pack. (Gummi is more like Jon over here than we thought!) Austin got a lot of points playing games last night.

The weather came in just as the hut appeared on our last descent of the day. We crossed our fingers and hoped the camp warden would have good news: room in the huts...ten points for the camp warden! We were reluctant to leave the hut even to pee and couldn't have been happier hearing (and feeling!) the 80km forecasted winds from our indoor accommodations. And that was before the real weather came in. A couple of big groups (too big for hut bunks) were tenting it outside and looked miserable, including British teenagers on a "get tough" trip. As the winds picked up, tents were swept away, tent poles snapped, and people were begging the camp warden for a space on the floor inside to sleep. One guy actually got blown off of a platform and broke his leg (yes, for real). Conditions wouldn't allow for a helicopter rescue, so the rescue team had to splint him up and send him in a two hour off road 4x4 ride to an ambulance waiting to bring him back to Reykjavik for surgery. Luckily, a nurse and a doctor were among the hikers who helped the rescue team. Gummi, of course, was central in the initial treatment/movement of the injured man and all of the campers still outside. As he helped the Brits to their indoor haven, he found scared teenagers freezing, crying, and even throwing up in their tents. They cancelled their trip because of all of their now unusable tents and had to figure out how to get back to Reykjavik from the middle of nowhere. Our guide company called when he heard about the storm on the news to make sure all of our legs were in one piece. In fact, one of the 4x4 drivers heard about the hiker with the broken leg on the news while driving him to the ambulance - this is Iceland!

Just before the major excitement, we were surprised by Gummi's family joining us at the hut - it's common for Icelanders to head out of Reykjavik on the weekends. They prepared an unbelievable feast of legs of lamb, baked potato & sweet potato, dried haddock (which we obligingly tried), cheese, salad, beer, hot cocoa, Icelandic liquor, and even more hiking poles (not part of the feast). We loved playing more games with Gummi' parents and 10 yr old sister protected from the howling winds and sideways rain. This was an unexpected treat that you dream of creating with a local family while exploring a new country that just fell in our lap. Gummi said he is traveling the world starting in January - we can't wait to host him in the CT/NJ/NY area and need to do some serious brainstorming to come up with an itinerary that he will find exciting.

Hiking Day 2: 12 km; 4:40