Monday, July 30, 2012

Day 22: Emstrur to Thorsmork to Reykjavik

After the late hike and our biggest mileage day, we still managed to get up at 5:45 to start hiking at 7 to catch the only bus out of the highlands at 2:30. A couple more favorite (or least favorite, depending on who you ask) moments today were having to use a rope to scale down rocky slopes and holding onto a chain while balancing across a few wooden planks that helped us climb back up the other side. The views approaching Thorsmork took us by surprise, despite being built up by so many last night. The blues and whites of Eyjafjallajokull as a backdrop to the bright greens and dark browns of the jagged mountains immediately surrounding Thorsmork were enough to make us stop in our smelly boots and just stare. We are excited to look back at all of the incredible (we hope!) pictures, but are skeptical that our cameras can capture what we remember.

A new distance PR gave us a nice sense of accomplishment today, as did finding out that Gummi's GPS recorded our hike as 63 km - significantly more than the advertised 56, but our blistered feet, achy backs, and stiff shoulders are thrilled this was the last day.

We had a couple of hours to enjoy beautiful Thorsmork before the bus out of the highlands on what are loosely called roads that frequently disappeared under rivers.

Hiking Day 4: "17" km; 6 hrs

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