Awoke to a cool cloudy day at Lake Myvatn, with a few local sights yet to see before heading southwest on a rough track between mountains. We had been commenting yesterday at how incredibly diverse the Icelandic landscapes are; rapidly changing from one breathtaking panorama to yet another distinctive ecosystem. After 6 days we thought perhaps we had seen the full range of volcanic terrains, until we reached our first stop, a one hour hike at Leirhnjukur. As the youngest lava flow (’75-’84) on the island, this area has a unique awe-inspiring feel; steaming hillsides, boiling pools, smoking black lava pits and cones - straight from the darkest depictions of hell.
Nearby was a pleasant hike through the “dark castles” of Dimmuborgir, 2,200 year old lava sculptures normally found only at the bottom of the ocean; one of which bore an eerie resemblance to a certain ‘portal to other worlds’ from the old Star Trek series. We followed the Ring Road west to Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest city – a really charming place where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Blue Teapot Paris Cafe. We also made a stop at the Godafoss falls, very much a smaller version of Niagara. From there we went WAY off the beaten path, onto a dirt ’mountain track’ between glaciers across the central highlands towards Geysir.
That’s where things got really interesting. We have seen a lot of desolated areas, but nothing can compare with the central highlands. Apollo moon crews trained here, with good reason – grey rock and rubble, and no signs of life, for as far as the eye can see in every direction. We also discovered why the lunar rover has a top speed of 5 kph; it’s slow going over terrain like this even with our big SUV. It started to rain pretty hard, and get dark; washboard and potholes bigger than the Ford – full of water. So it was 10 pm before we made it to the Gulfoss Hotel, but we had called ahead so sandwiches and beer were waiting.
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