Saturday, August 4, 2012
The Golden Circle
Over three weeks in Iceland and no "Golden Circle"??? We haven't been avoiding these geological treats like we have some culinary treats; the most famous of attractions just weren't on our biking (or hiking) route, and we wanted to save them to see with Tina anyway. It's a good thing we did, because when Gummi heard we were going to take a bus there, he said, "That's ridiculous, I will take you." The only problem was that he was leading day trip glacier hikes during our last two days in Iceland. "No problem, we only need four hours and we will have plenty of light!" So Gummi met us at other Gummi's apartment for a quick dinner after his trek before chauffeuring us around. He liked the potatoes and green salad, but looked at the quinoa salad like it was putrid shark. We had "flat kaka og honkey cut og a tub of butter" in the fridge as a backup.
Thingvellir is the national park that was the meeting grounds of the old parliament and, more interesting, the only place on Earth where there is a divergent plate boundary on land. We walked through separating rock (we were lucky enough to not have it separate at the time); had great views of the lake where people dive in the crystal clear, icy water; and felt a dramatic sense of history in Iceland's sacred ground. Thousands of people were there earlier in the day and the swarms would return the next morning, but we left the park at about 9pm after seeing just four other people enjoying the peaceful calm of of the light summer night.
The main attraction at Geysir is a geysir called Strokkur that sprays/spews/spouts/erupts every 5-6 minutes. The bigger geysir, Geysir (after which the town and all other geysirs get their name), hasn't put on its show for over twelve years. The sprays we saw were probably 50 feet high and were preceeded by teasing bubbles and ripples that built excitement as the pressure built underneath. This was definitely cool to see, but the surprising secondary sights pushed this stop beyond expectations. Strokkur lies (lay?) in a field of steaming hot vents, boiling cauldrons of water, caves filled with eerily calm 100 degree C water, electric blue pools of water, and steaming streams too hot to touch. We had to share our front row seats with about 20 fellow tourists (or perhaps it's the Icelanders who know to come at night), whereas Gummi said you can't get within about ten feet of the roped off area during the day because of the crowds.
Gulfoss was yet another spectacular waterfall. Though two-tiered, bigger and more forceful than others we've seen, and set in a dramatic canyon, driving specifically to see a waterfall raised expectations that were difficult to deliver, at least compared to stumbling upon one while biking or hiking. We saw just two photographers at the waterfall, and it was actually getting dusky departing at 11pm.
Overall, the Golden Circle was great - a touristy route that is so well traveled for many reasons. Having Gummi bring us around at our own pace and at night without crowds was ideal - we really lucked out. After dropping us at other Gummi's apartment at midnight, Gummi had to rush home to get a few hours sleep before leading his morning glacier hike at 7:30. He must sleep a lot in the winter.
Thingvellir is the national park that was the meeting grounds of the old parliament and, more interesting, the only place on Earth where there is a divergent plate boundary on land. We walked through separating rock (we were lucky enough to not have it separate at the time); had great views of the lake where people dive in the crystal clear, icy water; and felt a dramatic sense of history in Iceland's sacred ground. Thousands of people were there earlier in the day and the swarms would return the next morning, but we left the park at about 9pm after seeing just four other people enjoying the peaceful calm of of the light summer night.
The main attraction at Geysir is a geysir called Strokkur that sprays/spews/spouts/erupts every 5-6 minutes. The bigger geysir, Geysir (after which the town and all other geysirs get their name), hasn't put on its show for over twelve years. The sprays we saw were probably 50 feet high and were preceeded by teasing bubbles and ripples that built excitement as the pressure built underneath. This was definitely cool to see, but the surprising secondary sights pushed this stop beyond expectations. Strokkur lies (lay?) in a field of steaming hot vents, boiling cauldrons of water, caves filled with eerily calm 100 degree C water, electric blue pools of water, and steaming streams too hot to touch. We had to share our front row seats with about 20 fellow tourists (or perhaps it's the Icelanders who know to come at night), whereas Gummi said you can't get within about ten feet of the roped off area during the day because of the crowds.
Gulfoss was yet another spectacular waterfall. Though two-tiered, bigger and more forceful than others we've seen, and set in a dramatic canyon, driving specifically to see a waterfall raised expectations that were difficult to deliver, at least compared to stumbling upon one while biking or hiking. We saw just two photographers at the waterfall, and it was actually getting dusky departing at 11pm.
Overall, the Golden Circle was great - a touristy route that is so well traveled for many reasons. Having Gummi bring us around at our own pace and at night without crowds was ideal - we really lucked out. After dropping us at other Gummi's apartment at midnight, Gummi had to rush home to get a few hours sleep before leading his morning glacier hike at 7:30. He must sleep a lot in the winter.
Miscellehneous Iceland
Over the past month, we have jotted down some interesting Icelandic tidbits that never made it in a post. Here they are, roughly in order of discovery:
*Traffic lights turn yellow not only to signal upcoming red, but also upcoming green lights.
*Iceland's population has the highest percentage of Internet users in the whole wide world, at well over 90%. In a country of 320,000, that has interesting consequences. There's actually a new Icelandic term - Fesbokarlydraedi - that means Facebook democracy. A lot of important fallout, reaction, and response to the 2008 economic collapse was driven by FB. The gov't even polled the public about constitutional amendments on FB.
*Entering each town (or village...settlement...), there are not gates, but grates that welcome you. (They keep out livestock.)
*There are very few trees in Iceland. Although we learned that about 30% of the country was wooded when first settled, that figure is now only 1%. That is part of what made driftwood so valuable here (that and it's high salt content serving as a preservative).
*They have Doritos here in several varieties, including Nacho Cheese. We didn't immediately recognize the Cool Ranch - ranch must not translate well so they are actually called Cool American.
*We biked as early as 7am and as late as about 11pm. At both extremes, the sheep about were grazing. We'd like to know more about their daily/circadian rhythms and whether or not they vary by season this far north.
*The unconventional (to us) naming here makes listing the population, such as in a phone book, interesting. With so many Gudmundsons and Johanndottirs around, alphabetical by last name is not too helpful. So, they are listed alphabetically by first name. This isn't overly helpful either, so they have tiebreakers: last name, then profession, then address. This fun fact becomes even more intriguing when you learn that there isn't regulation on professions declared. There are sorcerers, ghostbusters, alien tamers, and Jedi masters listed. (Okay, we never saw a phone book and aren't sure if we could find one if we tried, but loved reading about this.)
*The domestic airline Flugfelag's motto is: We'll be landing shortly.
*We saw a cow with a bra one day. She had about double Q sized utters and actually had some mesh support for them strapped on.
*Gummi told us about a cool trick you can do with your tent: set up the rain fly over a hot vent to create a sauna. We'll try it next time.
*Iceland Air planes are all named after famous mountains/glaciers
*Iceland is home to the world's only Phallological Museum. Of course we checked it out. Field mice to blue whales, they have quite a range of specimens. Seeing the Icelandic handball team players' manhood in silver as a monument to their second place finish in Beijing will be hard to forget, as will reading about the "member of the month" (the giraffe) and looking over contracts for the next human specimens to be delivered.
*Traffic lights turn yellow not only to signal upcoming red, but also upcoming green lights.
*Iceland's population has the highest percentage of Internet users in the whole wide world, at well over 90%. In a country of 320,000, that has interesting consequences. There's actually a new Icelandic term - Fesbokarlydraedi - that means Facebook democracy. A lot of important fallout, reaction, and response to the 2008 economic collapse was driven by FB. The gov't even polled the public about constitutional amendments on FB.
*Entering each town (or village...settlement...), there are not gates, but grates that welcome you. (They keep out livestock.)
*There are very few trees in Iceland. Although we learned that about 30% of the country was wooded when first settled, that figure is now only 1%. That is part of what made driftwood so valuable here (that and it's high salt content serving as a preservative).
*They have Doritos here in several varieties, including Nacho Cheese. We didn't immediately recognize the Cool Ranch - ranch must not translate well so they are actually called Cool American.
*We biked as early as 7am and as late as about 11pm. At both extremes, the sheep about were grazing. We'd like to know more about their daily/circadian rhythms and whether or not they vary by season this far north.
*The unconventional (to us) naming here makes listing the population, such as in a phone book, interesting. With so many Gudmundsons and Johanndottirs around, alphabetical by last name is not too helpful. So, they are listed alphabetically by first name. This isn't overly helpful either, so they have tiebreakers: last name, then profession, then address. This fun fact becomes even more intriguing when you learn that there isn't regulation on professions declared. There are sorcerers, ghostbusters, alien tamers, and Jedi masters listed. (Okay, we never saw a phone book and aren't sure if we could find one if we tried, but loved reading about this.)
*The domestic airline Flugfelag's motto is: We'll be landing shortly.
*We saw a cow with a bra one day. She had about double Q sized utters and actually had some mesh support for them strapped on.
*Gummi told us about a cool trick you can do with your tent: set up the rain fly over a hot vent to create a sauna. We'll try it next time.
*Iceland Air planes are all named after famous mountains/glaciers
*Iceland is home to the world's only Phallological Museum. Of course we checked it out. Field mice to blue whales, they have quite a range of specimens. Seeing the Icelandic handball team players' manhood in silver as a monument to their second place finish in Beijing will be hard to forget, as will reading about the "member of the month" (the giraffe) and looking over contracts for the next human specimens to be delivered.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Day 24: This is Iceland
"The biggest coincidence would be if there were no coincidences."
As we have written before, we were introduced to the "smallness" of Iceland upon our arrival, when our bike-guy told us "if something really goes wrong with a bike, like a busted wheel, just to put it on a bus back to Reykjavik and wait for [him] to send a new one."
We have also written about another fantastic coincidence: running into Gummi, our would-be hiking guide in the Highlands (a five hour bus ride southeast of Reykjavik, on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (a five day bike ride northwest of Reykjavik).
A handful of similar stories round out a memorable and very telling list:
It's Thursday at The Blue Lagoon, 40 minutes south of Reykjavik but near the Keflavik Int'l Airport. Tina is to arrive from EWR and meet us there. We're not worried about our rendez-vous, despite being at the most visited attraction in the country. We head to the pools just after spotting her from our comfy cafe vantage point and run into a friend of Austin's from high school. His attempt to prevent any maternal embarrassment by saying, "Mom, you remember Jason Handrinos, right?" is muffled by an exclamatory, "It's Mrs. Lehn, my first grade teacher!" we introduced new wives/new fiancés/former teachers and spent some time together floating around one of the most relaxing places on Earth, even if a bit touristy.
It's Wednesday in Reykjavik, and we just got back to "our" apartment when Austin realizes he's missing his sunglasses (many of you probably know this is not yet surprising). Retracing some steps, we come up with a small window in which they went missing. First call is to the Akureyri airport (Iceland's Chicago to Reykjavik's SoCal.). "Are they grey with yellowish lenses?" the Iceland Air receptionist immediately asks. "Yes!!" the forgetful tourist excitedly responds. "Okay, I will put them on the next flight and they'll be in Reykjavik for pick up [in less than three hours]." So basically, it took us two minutes on the phone to call O'Hare Airport and get them to send a lost item to LAX. (Perhaps we should mention that Iceland's second city has a population of 17,000.)
It's Thursday, and we're enjoying an early afternoon coffee in Isafjordur (the Seattle of Iceland). Three days prior, we took a small bus to the Western-most point in Europe - the amazing bird cliffs of Latrabjarg. Into the cafe walks our bus driver, who immediately sees us and comes over to say hello. We smile and tell him about the past few days biking, without mentioning that we still felt he nearly killed us - either by flying off a cliff or giving us heart attacks barely avoiding such an accident.
It's 9pm on Wednesday night, we're packing for Ireland since our bus to the airport leaves at 4:30am, and Tina realizes she doesn't have her wallet (apple...tree!). We've gotten good at retracing steps over the years, and last remembered using the wallet in an off-the-beaten-track coffee shop that morning before "the kids" were even out of bed. Steph rummaged carefully through every bag and crevice of the apt. while Tina and Austin ran to the shop to stall deciding what to do next. Few coffee shops are open at 9pm. Our high hopes that one of six apartments above the store housed the owners were sinking as we rang the fifth bell looking for any sign of life. Austin failed to respond successfully, perhaps due to a language barrier or maybe simply not correctly using the intercom, almost blowing our chance to start our impassioned plea, but the elderly woman came down the stairs to answer the door. She has no affiliation to the shop, "but hold on, I might be able to find a phone number." While we waited outside, she called and was hung up on as it was their children's bedtime, but "they'll call back." She invited us in, she offered us a drink (which we of course refused), and we exchanged travel stories until the owner called back. He had the wallet and would drive to the shop to drop it off, loaded with Krona, Euros, Dollars, credit cards, and ID.
Coincidences happen early and often here in the North Atlantic.
As we have written before, we were introduced to the "smallness" of Iceland upon our arrival, when our bike-guy told us "if something really goes wrong with a bike, like a busted wheel, just to put it on a bus back to Reykjavik and wait for [him] to send a new one."
We have also written about another fantastic coincidence: running into Gummi, our would-be hiking guide in the Highlands (a five hour bus ride southeast of Reykjavik, on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (a five day bike ride northwest of Reykjavik).
A handful of similar stories round out a memorable and very telling list:
It's Thursday at The Blue Lagoon, 40 minutes south of Reykjavik but near the Keflavik Int'l Airport. Tina is to arrive from EWR and meet us there. We're not worried about our rendez-vous, despite being at the most visited attraction in the country. We head to the pools just after spotting her from our comfy cafe vantage point and run into a friend of Austin's from high school. His attempt to prevent any maternal embarrassment by saying, "Mom, you remember Jason Handrinos, right?" is muffled by an exclamatory, "It's Mrs. Lehn, my first grade teacher!" we introduced new wives/new fiancés/former teachers and spent some time together floating around one of the most relaxing places on Earth, even if a bit touristy.
It's Wednesday in Reykjavik, and we just got back to "our" apartment when Austin realizes he's missing his sunglasses (many of you probably know this is not yet surprising). Retracing some steps, we come up with a small window in which they went missing. First call is to the Akureyri airport (Iceland's Chicago to Reykjavik's SoCal.). "Are they grey with yellowish lenses?" the Iceland Air receptionist immediately asks. "Yes!!" the forgetful tourist excitedly responds. "Okay, I will put them on the next flight and they'll be in Reykjavik for pick up [in less than three hours]." So basically, it took us two minutes on the phone to call O'Hare Airport and get them to send a lost item to LAX. (Perhaps we should mention that Iceland's second city has a population of 17,000.)
It's Thursday, and we're enjoying an early afternoon coffee in Isafjordur (the Seattle of Iceland). Three days prior, we took a small bus to the Western-most point in Europe - the amazing bird cliffs of Latrabjarg. Into the cafe walks our bus driver, who immediately sees us and comes over to say hello. We smile and tell him about the past few days biking, without mentioning that we still felt he nearly killed us - either by flying off a cliff or giving us heart attacks barely avoiding such an accident.
It's 9pm on Wednesday night, we're packing for Ireland since our bus to the airport leaves at 4:30am, and Tina realizes she doesn't have her wallet (apple...tree!). We've gotten good at retracing steps over the years, and last remembered using the wallet in an off-the-beaten-track coffee shop that morning before "the kids" were even out of bed. Steph rummaged carefully through every bag and crevice of the apt. while Tina and Austin ran to the shop to stall deciding what to do next. Few coffee shops are open at 9pm. Our high hopes that one of six apartments above the store housed the owners were sinking as we rang the fifth bell looking for any sign of life. Austin failed to respond successfully, perhaps due to a language barrier or maybe simply not correctly using the intercom, almost blowing our chance to start our impassioned plea, but the elderly woman came down the stairs to answer the door. She has no affiliation to the shop, "but hold on, I might be able to find a phone number." While we waited outside, she called and was hung up on as it was their children's bedtime, but "they'll call back." She invited us in, she offered us a drink (which we of course refused), and we exchanged travel stories until the owner called back. He had the wallet and would drive to the shop to drop it off, loaded with Krona, Euros, Dollars, credit cards, and ID.
Coincidences happen early and often here in the North Atlantic.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Day 23: Hiking Iceland By The Numbers
We actually had some excitement today, but nothing bested reminiscing (statistically) about the hike:
Countless: special deliveries by Gummi's family, carefully planned footsteps, miles away from ordinary.
1120: highest altitude reached, in m
80: top projected winds, in km/hr
62.4: distance hiked, in IMEU
56: published distance of the hike
52: luxury items brought
20:07: time spent hiking, in hrs:mins
18: farthest hiked in 1 day, in IMEU
16: letters in Eyjafjallajokull
9: gears of the busses in/out of the Highlands
7: glaciers viewed (big enough to be named)
6: monuments/stories about dead hikers on the trail
6: hiking poles for the four hikers
5: possible huts for shelter along the way
4: rivers forded by foot
4: days of hiking
3: spectacular rainbows
2: legs of lamb devoured
2: ropes needed to complete the hike
1: trips Gummi has been paid to lead
1: incredible storm
1: night inside
1: broken leg
1: headlamp use (for a broken leg in an incredible storm)
0: serious injuries (to us!), regrets about paying a guide, correct glacier pronunciations, hot pots, showers, earthquakes, eruptions, buildings, pavement, cell phones, night skies
More Reykjavik adventures to come!!
Countless: special deliveries by Gummi's family, carefully planned footsteps, miles away from ordinary.
1120: highest altitude reached, in m
80: top projected winds, in km/hr
62.4: distance hiked, in IMEU
56: published distance of the hike
52: luxury items brought
20:07: time spent hiking, in hrs:mins
18: farthest hiked in 1 day, in IMEU
16: letters in Eyjafjallajokull
9: gears of the busses in/out of the Highlands
7: glaciers viewed (big enough to be named)
6: monuments/stories about dead hikers on the trail
6: hiking poles for the four hikers
5: possible huts for shelter along the way
4: rivers forded by foot
4: days of hiking
3: spectacular rainbows
2: legs of lamb devoured
2: ropes needed to complete the hike
1: trips Gummi has been paid to lead
1: incredible storm
1: night inside
1: broken leg
1: headlamp use (for a broken leg in an incredible storm)
0: serious injuries (to us!), regrets about paying a guide, correct glacier pronunciations, hot pots, showers, earthquakes, eruptions, buildings, pavement, cell phones, night skies
More Reykjavik adventures to come!!
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
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
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Day 21: Alftavatn to Emstrur
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
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
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
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
Monday, July 23, 2012
Day 19: Reykjavik to Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker
If you can't pronounce the title of today's entry, join the club, and just refer to it as "Hiking Day 1." We have some Day 17 & 18 fun to share, but wanted to get back on the grid with more adventurous updates.
Turns out that Gummi, whom we randomly met on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, was going to be our guide. It took about ten minutes for us to decide that getting a guide was a great decision. A few obvious (at least in retrospect) immediate tips like putting sleeping gear in plastic bags and needing hiking poles were our first glimpse of this. We got bonus value as he told us informative/interesting/funny tidbits on the bus ride from Reykjavik to the Highlands. Did you know that the pipes leading to geothermal plants have periodic 90 degree turns? An early one was built straight and stretched from 20 to 28 km! DYK that the youngest Westman Island (off the south coast) is less than 50 years old? No one is allowed on it except scientists who study primary succession through such things as birds' seed dispersal; however, Gummi says the tough locals check it out whenever they want and one he knows had to take a #2 one day there. A tomato plant grew in the same spot and the scientists never figured out the anomaly. You won't find that in Lonely Planet. He had plenty to share with us about Arctic Terns after we told him how much we liked them. His grandfather was pecked in the head by one and had a two inch gash that needed stitches. Gummi also knows a biker who cycled through one of the many nesting areas, got pecked in the head, and the tern's beak stuck in his helmet!
Okay, the hike...today was the "short" 12 km hike, but a good chunk of the 56 km trail. Our views were of jagged peaks, shiny obsidian rock, shapely glaciers, steaming hot vents, and multicolored mountains that glimmered in the light. Other worldly juxtapositions like walking over a glacier to be greeted by a steaming geothermal vent will be hard to forget. This all sounds quite glamorous, but we reached a maximum altitude of 1120m as the hike was rarely, if ever, flat. Ascents were tough as we adjusted to our heavy packs and descents treacherous as we adjusted to our heavy packs.
We revealed our selfish subconciouses at lunch today as we tried to pedal the food we were carrying to lighten our loads. Some more laughs came when learning our first Icelandic card game: (phonetically) skeetluhkutluh, or "shit man."
At one point, we saw a monument to a young hiker who died in a blizzard on our trail and remembered it can be dangerous hiking in the fickle Icelandic Highlands. Again, the real story today was having our patient, fun, knowledgeable, well-connected, and funny guide by our side.
Hiking Day 1: 12km; 4:10
Turns out that Gummi, whom we randomly met on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, was going to be our guide. It took about ten minutes for us to decide that getting a guide was a great decision. A few obvious (at least in retrospect) immediate tips like putting sleeping gear in plastic bags and needing hiking poles were our first glimpse of this. We got bonus value as he told us informative/interesting/funny tidbits on the bus ride from Reykjavik to the Highlands. Did you know that the pipes leading to geothermal plants have periodic 90 degree turns? An early one was built straight and stretched from 20 to 28 km! DYK that the youngest Westman Island (off the south coast) is less than 50 years old? No one is allowed on it except scientists who study primary succession through such things as birds' seed dispersal; however, Gummi says the tough locals check it out whenever they want and one he knows had to take a #2 one day there. A tomato plant grew in the same spot and the scientists never figured out the anomaly. You won't find that in Lonely Planet. He had plenty to share with us about Arctic Terns after we told him how much we liked them. His grandfather was pecked in the head by one and had a two inch gash that needed stitches. Gummi also knows a biker who cycled through one of the many nesting areas, got pecked in the head, and the tern's beak stuck in his helmet!
Okay, the hike...today was the "short" 12 km hike, but a good chunk of the 56 km trail. Our views were of jagged peaks, shiny obsidian rock, shapely glaciers, steaming hot vents, and multicolored mountains that glimmered in the light. Other worldly juxtapositions like walking over a glacier to be greeted by a steaming geothermal vent will be hard to forget. This all sounds quite glamorous, but we reached a maximum altitude of 1120m as the hike was rarely, if ever, flat. Ascents were tough as we adjusted to our heavy packs and descents treacherous as we adjusted to our heavy packs.
We revealed our selfish subconciouses at lunch today as we tried to pedal the food we were carrying to lighten our loads. Some more laughs came when learning our first Icelandic card game: (phonetically) skeetluhkutluh, or "shit man."
At one point, we saw a monument to a young hiker who died in a blizzard on our trail and remembered it can be dangerous hiking in the fickle Icelandic Highlands. Again, the real story today was having our patient, fun, knowledgeable, well-connected, and funny guide by our side.
Hiking Day 1: 12km; 4:10
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Day 16: Biking Iceland by the Numbers
We got to the airport at 5:15pm for our 7:25 flight to sort out bikes/panniers - we thought appropriately early - but the lady asked us if we knew we weren't flying until 7:25 (actually, she said 19:25). We are definitely not in 9/11 land. Since all we really did the rest of the day was kill time in Akureyri checking out a few Lonely Planet recommended spots, including trying "the best ice cream in Iceland," we decided it was a perfect time to summarize our biking Iceland adventure with numbers:
Countless - asshole terns, sheep, spectacular views, cairns spotted, cups of coffee
928 - distance biked, in IMEU (Icelandic mile equivalency units are actually the same distance as kilometers, but this reporting helps pad our stats and our self esteem - the conditions are tough!)
680 - distance driven in our rental car, in km (not IMEU)
247 - cost of gas, per liter, in ISK
125 - approximate ISK per USD conversion
110 - most IMEU biked in one day
81 - longest climb recorded, in minutes (we know there were longer!)
50 - cost of renting our bikes, per IMEU ridden, in US cents
33 - US bought Gluten Free energy bars consumed
31 - touring cyclists spotted, 12 of which were from a car
22 - passengers on our domestic flight
14 - different comment authors on the blog (thanks - we love every comment!)
13 - consecutive days camping
12 - Sundlaugs visited
11 - days of biking
10 - days we paid for camping (three were free, not stolen. It's actually legal to camp on public land anywhere in Iceland, so this isn't impressive, but the toilets are priceless.)
9 - most pools/hot pots in one Sundlaug
8 - longest no-laundry streak, in days (you'll never guess who owns this record)
7 - approx minutes holding our breath going through the clouds on our domestic flight
6 - modes of transportation used getting around Iceland
5 - most types of fish eaten in one meal
4 - dehydrated meals consumed
3 - empty peanut butter containers discarded
2 - colors an arctic fox can be (white in winter, dark in summer)
1 - estimated circumcised penises in Iceland, after a couple dozen Sundlaug showers.
1 - bike maintenance issues
0 - putrid shark/singed sheep's head eaten, night skies seen, headlamp uses
We will probably be out of touch for the next four days while hiking, but are excited to continue the updates when we're back on the grid!
Countless - asshole terns, sheep, spectacular views, cairns spotted, cups of coffee
928 - distance biked, in IMEU (Icelandic mile equivalency units are actually the same distance as kilometers, but this reporting helps pad our stats and our self esteem - the conditions are tough!)
680 - distance driven in our rental car, in km (not IMEU)
247 - cost of gas, per liter, in ISK
125 - approximate ISK per USD conversion
110 - most IMEU biked in one day
81 - longest climb recorded, in minutes (we know there were longer!)
50 - cost of renting our bikes, per IMEU ridden, in US cents
33 - US bought Gluten Free energy bars consumed
31 - touring cyclists spotted, 12 of which were from a car
22 - passengers on our domestic flight
14 - different comment authors on the blog (thanks - we love every comment!)
13 - consecutive days camping
12 - Sundlaugs visited
11 - days of biking
10 - days we paid for camping (three were free, not stolen. It's actually legal to camp on public land anywhere in Iceland, so this isn't impressive, but the toilets are priceless.)
9 - most pools/hot pots in one Sundlaug
8 - longest no-laundry streak, in days (you'll never guess who owns this record)
7 - approx minutes holding our breath going through the clouds on our domestic flight
6 - modes of transportation used getting around Iceland
5 - most types of fish eaten in one meal
4 - dehydrated meals consumed
3 - empty peanut butter containers discarded
2 - colors an arctic fox can be (white in winter, dark in summer)
1 - estimated circumcised penises in Iceland, after a couple dozen Sundlaug showers.
1 - bike maintenance issues
0 - putrid shark/singed sheep's head eaten, night skies seen, headlamp uses
We will probably be out of touch for the next four days while hiking, but are excited to continue the updates when we're back on the grid!
Day 15: Lake Myvatn to Akureyri
Riding along the Eastern and Southern shores of Lake Myvatn on our way out of town, we had another bike & hike as we walked around a few trails to get to some viewpoints, see rock formations, and get close to a series of craters that formed when lava flowed into the Lake. Some of these spots are clearly favorites; we ran into countless tour busses of every shape, size, and language spoken. In fact, this traffic wasn't all bad, as they sometimes signaled us when to stop riding. We said goodbye to the lake and made good time getting to Godafoss - Waterfall of the Gods - for more photo ops and time off the saddle.
The decision to go on or not was a tough one. We'd reached our goal, but it was easier than expected, and we could both "see" our final biking destination on the horizon. So, we covered tomorrow's miles too, and made it back to Akureyri with plenty of time to visit the Sundlaug. Ahead of schedule, we moved our flight back to Reykjavik up a day to get to a bed, somewhere to leave gear during the day, and to meet Tina in a couple of days! All a welcomed change of pace.
The decision to go on or not was a tough one. We'd reached our goal, but it was easier than expected, and we could both "see" our final biking destination on the horizon. So, we covered tomorrow's miles too, and made it back to Akureyri with plenty of time to visit the Sundlaug. Ahead of schedule, we moved our flight back to Reykjavik up a day to get to a bed, somewhere to leave gear during the day, and to meet Tina in a couple of days! All a welcomed change of pace.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Day 14: Lake Myvatn
We followed an unusually productive day with an appropriately restful one. Our bodies must be acclimating to the light nights - we didn't stir until after 10am, despite staying in our busiest campground yet (plenty of others in tonight's pic!).
As promised. We hung around Lake Myvatn today to explore some of its geological wonders. The biggest portion of our exploration involved a bike and hike to/around Hverfell, a "classic tephra ring." This roughly symmetrical volcanic crater is over a km across and 500m tall. The hike around the perimeter at the top offered picturesque views of the varied surrounding landscapes. Along the way, we stumbled upon fissures, steaming vents, caves, hot springs, and caves with hot springs. This wore us out, but the best thing about camping in the same place two nights in a row is the ability to take a tent-nap. We rose from our slumber to finish the day at the Myvatn Nature Baths - "The Blue Lagoon of the North" is open until midnight!
As promised. We hung around Lake Myvatn today to explore some of its geological wonders. The biggest portion of our exploration involved a bike and hike to/around Hverfell, a "classic tephra ring." This roughly symmetrical volcanic crater is over a km across and 500m tall. The hike around the perimeter at the top offered picturesque views of the varied surrounding landscapes. Along the way, we stumbled upon fissures, steaming vents, caves, hot springs, and caves with hot springs. This wore us out, but the best thing about camping in the same place two nights in a row is the ability to take a tent-nap. We rose from our slumber to finish the day at the Myvatn Nature Baths - "The Blue Lagoon of the North" is open until midnight!
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