ICELAND RING ROAD part 4 (July 14-25, 2018)
We really enjoyed spending 3 nights in our little cabin in the pines, but it's time to head east towards Hofn. As I mentioned, the Ring Road (Route 1) is the only major route to circumnavigate the island on pavement, so hitting the pavement is what we did! We had a looong travel day ahead of us, so we departed Selfoss at approximately 0900hr. Skies were a little overcast as we set out for our first stop at Seljalandsfoss, the falls we skipped the day prior. Very cool experience walking behind the falls, oh and a little damp also!
We took way too much time enjoying ourselves at the falls...DRIVE!! It is so easy to want to stop and take pictures around every corner, but we tried to stay focused on our next destination at Fjadradargljufur, an incredible river canyon, that's a bad description...TRULY AMAZING river canyon! We did make one stop to top off the diesel in Vik, how's $8 a gallon for ya!! $8 is the going rate all over the island. The debit card we picked up at the airport included a coupon booklet that saved 9 cents a gallon and a free cup of coffee, so at least we had that going for us!
Fjadradargljufur is a little off the beaten path, including a portion of gravel road that was rutted out a little. We did see 2 wheel drive vehicles at the park, so it's possible get there without 4x4...hope they opted for the extra insurance! The canyon is over 100 meters in depth and about 2km long. The walk up was fairly easy, but I broke a sweat as I usually do! This was honestly one of the most amazing places I've seen.
Next stop Skaftafell National Park. This area has great camping options at a nice full service visitors center. If you're a hiker...lots of long scenic trails! We only had time for shorter hikes, so we simply headed to a trail leading towards the Skaftafellsjokull glacier, 3.7km approximately 1.5 hr round trip. If I have this correct, this area is part of the larger Vatnajokull National Park which contains Europe's largest glacier. There's a lot of ice up in those hills! I wish we had more "days" to explore these parks.
Once back at the visitor center we decided life is too short to skip the hike to Svartifoss falls, 5.5km approx 2 hours round trip. The trail head was marked "Easy" hike...well we didn't need ropes or crampons, but it's practically all UPHILL! The trail seemed to never end, no visual of the falls until an hour in to the scenic trail, Yes, I broke a serious sweat!!
Time was flying by and on the trail back to the car, I anxiously kept looking at my watch. We knew we had until 10pm to check in at the guest house, but that was still 2 hours away and it was already 7pm. "NO MORE STOPS"!
We arrived at our cozy guest house in Hofn at 9pm sheeew! Great new place right next to a lake, included a friendly pup to spend time with! After check in some other guests from the Netherlands told us there was a tasty pizza parlor at the small port that closes at 10pm, so off we went again...5 minute drive! Hofn is a picturesque little fishing village and they served great pizzas and cold Gull beer!! The people of Iceland are incredibly friendly, I'm not just saying that, they really are! Our wonderful bartender/server took the time to provide 2 local maps and marked her favorite spots around Hofn, cool!
It was probably 1130pm when we finally called it quits for the day... it was an enjoyably exhausting 14 hour journey and we were rewarded with this incredible "sunset" over the lake just before midnight, nice.
To be continued..........
We really enjoyed spending 3 nights in our little cabin in the pines, but it's time to head east towards Hofn. As I mentioned, the Ring Road (Route 1) is the only major route to circumnavigate the island on pavement, so hitting the pavement is what we did! We had a looong travel day ahead of us, so we departed Selfoss at approximately 0900hr. Skies were a little overcast as we set out for our first stop at Seljalandsfoss, the falls we skipped the day prior. Very cool experience walking behind the falls, oh and a little damp also!
We took way too much time enjoying ourselves at the falls...DRIVE!! It is so easy to want to stop and take pictures around every corner, but we tried to stay focused on our next destination at Fjadradargljufur, an incredible river canyon, that's a bad description...TRULY AMAZING river canyon! We did make one stop to top off the diesel in Vik, how's $8 a gallon for ya!! $8 is the going rate all over the island. The debit card we picked up at the airport included a coupon booklet that saved 9 cents a gallon and a free cup of coffee, so at least we had that going for us!
Fjadradargljufur is a little off the beaten path, including a portion of gravel road that was rutted out a little. We did see 2 wheel drive vehicles at the park, so it's possible get there without 4x4...hope they opted for the extra insurance! The canyon is over 100 meters in depth and about 2km long. The walk up was fairly easy, but I broke a sweat as I usually do! This was honestly one of the most amazing places I've seen.
Next stop Skaftafell National Park. This area has great camping options at a nice full service visitors center. If you're a hiker...lots of long scenic trails! We only had time for shorter hikes, so we simply headed to a trail leading towards the Skaftafellsjokull glacier, 3.7km approximately 1.5 hr round trip. If I have this correct, this area is part of the larger Vatnajokull National Park which contains Europe's largest glacier. There's a lot of ice up in those hills! I wish we had more "days" to explore these parks.
Once back at the visitor center we decided life is too short to skip the hike to Svartifoss falls, 5.5km approx 2 hours round trip. The trail head was marked "Easy" hike...well we didn't need ropes or crampons, but it's practically all UPHILL! The trail seemed to never end, no visual of the falls until an hour in to the scenic trail, Yes, I broke a serious sweat!!
Time was flying by and on the trail back to the car, I anxiously kept looking at my watch. We knew we had until 10pm to check in at the guest house, but that was still 2 hours away and it was already 7pm. "NO MORE STOPS"!
We arrived at our cozy guest house in Hofn at 9pm sheeew! Great new place right next to a lake, included a friendly pup to spend time with! After check in some other guests from the Netherlands told us there was a tasty pizza parlor at the small port that closes at 10pm, so off we went again...5 minute drive! Hofn is a picturesque little fishing village and they served great pizzas and cold Gull beer!! The people of Iceland are incredibly friendly, I'm not just saying that, they really are! Our wonderful bartender/server took the time to provide 2 local maps and marked her favorite spots around Hofn, cool!
It was probably 1130pm when we finally called it quits for the day... it was an enjoyably exhausting 14 hour journey and we were rewarded with this incredible "sunset" over the lake just before midnight, nice.
To be continued..........