Day 2 of our wild adventure. After the best night's sleep I
had in Iceland,
Jeremy and I woke up early to check out the waterfall, Skogafoss, before starting our day.
It was overcast and spitting mist out of the sky, but it didn’t matter once
we got to the falls because it was so incredible and powerful. We tried to get
as close as we could to it and ended up getting soaked from all the mist it
created. There was a staircase leading up the side to the top that we decided
to climb, taking a little detour half way up to a breathtaking overlook. Then
we headed back to the hotel, had some breakfast and played cards until the
museum we were going to opened. The museum was pretty cool, they had so many
archaeological findings from excavations around the area as well as a few row
boats that were used for fishing. Outside, there was an old turf farmhouse village that we could go inside and
see the stable, bedrooms, and pantry as well as a school, house and a church
from I believe the early 1900s. After walking around there for a bit, we moved
on to our next destination: Eyjafjallajökull Glacier. 
Apparently we should have been able to see the glacier towering over the mountains for a good part of the drive, but it was so foggy, we had no idea it was there. That may be why it was so cool to finally see once we walked up to it. Of course Kristjan, the adventure seeker, led us up and on it. It wasn't as pretty and icy blue as I expected, because a) it is not winter/covered in snow and b) it was sprinkled with black ash. Still, it was cool to stand on and check out. Apparently this is just the tongue to the actual glacier. I would love to go on a glacier hike to the top of it, but you have to go with a guide and it is quite pricey. After testing some more of the fresh Icelandic water, we climbed off the glacier and headed onward on our journey.
Remember in
2010 when a volcano erupted
and all flights were grounded in Europe and
everyone was fussing about not being able to travel? That volcano
caused life altering disasters in Iceland. This one farm we visited
lived at the base of the glacier/volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The 2010 eruption
covered their land in a thick layer of black ash and after much debate they
decided they couldn’t abandon their farm and had to clean up the mess. About a
year after the eruption, to help with some revenue they created a film
documentary called Iceland Erupts and opened a little visitor’s center on the
other side of the road. We watched the short film about how the eruption turned
their life upside down. Because the volcano is covered by a glacier, the
eruption caused serious flooding of not only water, but a volcanic ash sludge,
spreading all over the land. The air was filled with ash dust and you couldn’t
even see your hand out in front of you. The family returned to the farm after
evacuating and started the clean up efforts. Two year later we still saw
backhoes digging up and excavating the volcanic ash. Now, the farm is
completely sustainable. The farmer built his own hydropower station on a small
cliff behind the farm and they produce their own rapeseed oil for fueling farm
equipment and cooking. It is quite amazing that after such a
devastating thing happened and the most obvious thing to do is pick up and move
on, they managed to clean it up and keep going on with their life farming and living
off the grid.
After
talking with some folks at our hotel the night before, we found out about a
place called ‘the old pool’. In the 1920s a youth group decided to build a
natural hot pool in a valley in the middle of the wilderness. We told Agust and
Kristjan about it and they had heard of it and decided we should try to find it.
Onto another dirt road we drove and stopped at the end. We followed a
small trail and trekked into the valley. After about 15 minutes the pool came
into view! It was built along the side of a cliff so half of it was a natural
wall while the other half was constructed and on one end was a shack where we
could change. It was freezing out and misting with rain so we quickly changed
and jumped in. The water wasn’t that warm unless we sat where a small hot
spring was pouring down the rock. It was definitely the highlight of the trip.
A natural hot pool in the middle of the mountains, what could be better?
That was the last stop on our amazing two day journey and
after returning to Reykjavik
we were all pretty exhausted and had a quick rest before hitting the town for
some more crazy, unexpected nightlife.
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