The weather report wasn't all bad - our night inside was incredibly restful: eating and drinking like royalty and an air mattress from Gummi's parents meant a great night's sleep. Plus, the winds were supposed to still be pretty bad this morning so we planned to sleep in and wait until 1 to hike (1:07 to be exact).
We certainly upped our km/hr today and, even though it was flatter terrain, we forded a couple more rivers, which eats a lot of time. One was up to our knees and, obviously, bitter cold. Because the current was pretty strong, we forded as one; Austin went back through for photo ops - numb is numb after all, you can't be more numb.
More special deliveries today! Gummi's family drove by us on a dirt road out of camp and passed a bag of Doritos for a mid-hike snack. They also made a stop at tonight's hut to drop off wine, beer, chocolate cake, another tub of butter for Gummi, and garlic cream for our leftover lamb and potatoes - yum!
Varied landscapes of today's "casual hike" (we are drafting a letter to Lonely Planet to object to this description!) included glaciers, green mountains, black sandy lava fields, rivers, and waterfalls.
We already started discussing our next hike with Gummi on deserted Hornstrandir or with his puffin hunting club in the Westman Islands (he catches and kills them by hand). In discussing his favorite hikes, we found out a couple of unbelievable facts: we are his first guided trip (that he's been paid for), and he is only 20 yrs old (despite his wealth of knowledge and facial hair). We have felt in the best of hands the entire time - other group leaders seem to respect and even lean on him for information and the camp wardens greet Gummi with a hug and a smile when we arrive with a welcome beer and a goodbye pancake...it certainly doesn't seem like his maiden voyage. Having his family checking in on their boy/making sure he had happy campers makes a little more sense now - we don't think his next group will get such a treat.
It poured rain tonight, but luckily a wet tent is not a big deal since we are aiming to catch the 2:30 bus back to Reykjavik tomorrow. We got to camp late and will be leaving early, but just have to push through for one more day.
Hiking Day 3: 16 km; 5:17
You guys! This sounds amazing. Glad you made it through the storm safely and have Gummi's family helping you along the way (with Doritos & treats, too!) Hope you dry out and have a good last day of hiking :)
ReplyDeleteTub of butter??? I am intrigued!
ReplyDelete