Today we traveled to Höfn, which sits on the South Eastern tip of Iceland. The drive time is approximately 4.5 hours and we came across our first section of moss and rocks. Icelandic people are very protective of the moss grown as it takes a long time. So they kindly ask people not to step on the moss, but it is quite hard not to. The moss seemingly grows everywhere along the south eastern part of Iceland. Once again the land transforms into very flat plains between the mountains.These plains seemingly span 10’s of km across and allow the wind to pick up gale force speeds. Along the way to Höfn we stopped off at, Skáfthreppur and Vatnajökull National Park. Since we did not make many stops this post is going to be short.
One of the nice things about travelling in Iceland independent of a tour is being able to stop where ever you want. During our trip to Hofn, we stopped in Skáfthreppur to refuel and stop off at the visitor center. Where we got some maps and brochures of the area. Just a tip if you do look for the visitor center its past the N1 gas station deeper into the town. The visitor center is shared as a community center as well so its pretty hard to miss. 15 minutes outside of the town to the east is a little photo opportunity, called Foss á Síðu. We found the land between Vik and Vatnajökull National Park extremely windy and this site was not an exception. While we our taking pictures I had to weigh down the tripod or else it was up going to get blown over. All along route 1 there are places like this to stop and take pictures, some places are a little hard to reach and do require 4×4 vehicles but the majority evan a small sedan can reach.
Our big stop was in Vatnajökull National Park as it is the largest national park in Europe. We went to the southern part of the park called Skatafell. While in Skatafell we decided to hike the S1 trail as it would take us close to the glacier, Skaftafellsjökull. If you plan to do a the S1 hike I would recommend starting with the blue route which does not have very good signage. Its located just to the right of the green entrance which has a S1 sign. Vatnajökull National Park is the closest I’ve seen to a forest yet. It is full of bush like vegetagion that sits around 6 feet. The icelandic joke is that if you get lost in a forest, just stand up. The S1 trail is a light route which you walk along the moss and rocks towards the glacier, Skaftafellsjökull. The path is quite rocky and full of gravel but quite easy to traverse. They offer a self guided tour at the visitor center and it probably would have been a good idea to purchase it.
We soon realized that the tail took right up to the glacier and we could walk on it if we wanted. While walking up we found numerous rock deposits from the glacier. We decided to make a little Inukshuk leaving a small imprint of Canada here in Iceland.
We finished our day hike just before 3 PM and started the remaining 1.5 hour drive into Höfn. I wish we had more time at Vatnajökull as it would be interesting to do some of the more difficult trails and see the glacier from different angles. The drive took us along the southern border of the national park. The border follows the mountain range and as we drove along the land became more fertile. It changed once again from a mossy rock landscape to a hilly rich soil where farmers were riding and grooming their horses. As we reached Höfn the entire landscape is more or less country with farms and in the distance to the north you can see the mountains. Really is quite a nice view and I hope to shoot some astro out here. Unfortunately won’t be able to tonight as we have to get up early tomorrow for an Ice cave Tour!
-Dan
P.S. Food-wise we didn’t eat anything special, breakfast at Hotel Hella, Lunch sandwiches from local bakery (pretty good for 5 bucks each) and dinner we had instant noodles and some awful couscous.
YipYip 