Iceland Day 1-2
The day had finally come and we made it to Iceland! By this time, Dana and I had become pros on disembarking the ferry. Since I am up early, I went to get a seat outside the main bar for us to wait getting into the car. That way we can escape the screaming kids. Once we got into the car and started unloading, it was time to go through customs. The police seemed to stop at random while looking at license plates and comparing to a clipboard they were carrying. As we approached, we definitely saw mass confusion on all their faces as we had our California plates. I slowly crept by as they flipped through the pages, but they never stopped me. We were officially in!
After taking care of the logistics of some cash and groceries, we headed off to our first stop, Borgarfjörður Eystri. Borgarfjörður Eystri is known as a great place to view a puffin colony. Puffins are in Iceland during the summer months, with August being one of the last good months to see them in various places. Borgarfjörður Eystri pretty much is a small port with a small cafe and then the giant rock where the puffins live. There is a nice staircase that goes up and you get very close to the puffins. They were so amazing to see. Honestly, we were shocked at how many there were and how close we got to them. It was also hilarious because we found out puffins pretty much shoot out streams of poop. If you see a puffin with its butt pointing at you, watch out!
After getting our fill of puffins, we started to make our way south on the Ring Road. The next stop we took after a long drive was Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. Jokulsarlon glacier is one of the most well known glaciers in Iceland. It covers 11.2 square miles and is also Iceland’s deepest lake at 814 feet. After finding parking in the mad house of buses and cars, we walked to the viewpoint. It is just amazing to see how huge the glacier was and also how large the chunks of ice were. An interesting fact is that only 50% of the floaters are visible above the water. While there, we actually heard one crack and crash into the water. It was much louder than expected. We took the walk from the lagoon to the side of Diamond Beach that was connected to it. There is another side over the bridge, but I didn’t want to fight for parking. Still, the same side had some pieces of ice in it that gives the beach its name. After taking the obligatory pictures, we made our way to our first campsite at Skatafell National Park.
The weather finally turned a little better, so we actually at dinner outside. Little did I know, this one of I think 3 times we ate outside of the truck. Dana cooked some delicious burgers and fries, and I have to saw that I love camping with an air fryer. While waiting in line to clean dishes, we notice the huge pile people had, while we had 4 items to clean. Takes a little longer to cook, but the cleanup is awesome.
The next day, we took advantage of our campsite and started our hike at to Svartifoss waterfall. It was quite an easy hike overall for us in absolutely beautiful weather. Svartifoss was absolutely beautiful. Standing at 20m tall, it has such a unique look with the basalt columns surrounding it. On the way back, we did a quick detour to a viewpoint and also got a little lost. On the GPS, the path was correct, but the park had changed the path apparently. Other than that, we got back to the car ok, filled the water tank up, and went on our way to our first F-road, F206/F207!
We stopped an Orkan Gas Station on the way, which was notable because it was our first Icelandic hot dog! I had been telling Dana about the great reviews about the hot dogs, but she didn’t believe me. She bought two to try and she actually really like it! The hot dog is different because the meat is comprised of lamb, beef, and some pork. Not only that, but they put some ketchup, their brown mustard, their relish, and a combination of fresh and crispy onions. It was a great snack to start the day. Also, while we were here, there was a tour bus of Asians at the stop. It was hilarious because two of them started to take pictures with out truck while we were in it! We got a good laugh out of that.
Once we got to the start, I attempted to be lazy and not air down, but after 2 minutes I decided to air down mainly for comfort. Already this was a huge perk of having my own truck with beefy All-Terrain tires. Airing down from 42 psi down to 20psi improved the ride quality immediately. Sure, you can air down the rental tire cars, but 95% of them have road tires which have a much higher chance of puncture.
On F206, there is a nice quick little detour to a short hike to a beautiful canyon as well as a waterfall. It is near the start of the trail, so if you just want to do that you can. After that detour, we got to the main reason of being here, the roads, and F206 did not disappoint. It was a great starter F-road because wow it was absolutely gorgeous. Dana drove the first portion as I was working the drone, but the greenery was just beautiful. I was kind of glad to sit passenger for the first part so I could appreciate it. We only switched when Dana got to the first tricky water crossing which she wasn’t comfortable driving.
It wasn’t bad, just long and running water, which she has never done before. Once we passed that, it was a bit while until we got to a more serious one. We knew it was more serious because we saw a camper van and two other cars pulled to the side. When I got there, a man named Jacob approached us and asked if we could give him and his wife a ride over. As scouting the river, he already found out it was around knee height, which is right around the top of my bumper so not bad. For good karma, I decided to give the two strangers a ride over the crossing. To do that, Dana and I had to move a bunch of stuff out of the backseat and into the truck bed.
Now with our two hitchhikers, Emily and Jacob, we made the crossing no problem. On the way to Laki Crater and the viewpoint, we got to know our travel companions. Turns out Emily was pregnant! After 2 weeks of just talking to each other for the most part, it was nice to split a ride with another couple and chat about random stuff. Once we got to the start of the hike, we talked to a nice ranger who gave us some great info about the area and the hike. It was very good info and helpful because we were about to drive out to the wrong start point.
Laki Crater and the area was created by one of the largest volcano eruptions in Iceland history. The 1783 eruption lated 8 months and killed over 50% of the livestock as well as almost all the crops in the country. It killed at least a quarter of the population as well. Its estimated that over 42 billion ton of basalt lava poured out during the eruption.
This hike was not like the earlier hike we did. It was definitely challenging. The elevation gain was quite a killer. It was funny because when Dana and I turned around, we were shocked to see Emily was pretty much on our tail! It was impressive seeing how easy she made the hike look while pregnant. Once you get up the hardest part of the mountain, the view is absolutely worth it and all sides. We spent a good 10-15 minutes just taking it in and snapping pictures. On the way down, Dana and I took the detour to go into the lava fields, which was like being on another planet.
Once back to the car, we continued to F207 where it eventually led to an another stop, a crater lake. You could either just hike to the viewpoint or hike all the way around it. After 2 hikes today, Dana and I decided just to do the viewpoint. It was definitely a beautiful lake, and if you do this earlier in the day, the whole hike looks like it could be worth it. As it was getting late, we decided it was best to get back and start going to camp. After saying our goodbye to our hitchhikers, Dana and I made our way to Pakgil campground. Again, this was another good reason I had my car because with the upgraded suspension of my truck, going normal speeds on the gravel road to the campground was no issue for the truck. It smooths out the bumps that most of the rentals were struggling to get through. The road to the campground was worth it because Pakgil is easily the most scenic campground in a canyon. There are hikes and a cute little communal kitchen in the cave. After another dinner outside, we called it a night.
