September 15 – Day 77
Waking up this morning was one of the worst parts of this trip. It was freezing and we were wet….at this moment I realized we did not have enough good camping gear for the inclement weather and cold nights ahead. This was the first camping night and at the moment of opening my eyes multiple times before we were to get ready, I realized we couldn’t do the cold. Thus we decided to stay in hotels the rest of the trip, while Jarrett camped.
Nonetheless it was still a wonderful night seeing the northern lights, and camping under the stars. We had the ability still to turn the heat on in the car, so while Jarrett slept a little we warmed up in the hyundai. It was about 730 when we woke and I had to get Jarrett up to get ready. It took about 30 minutes for us to get our belongings together. Today was to be the longest drive stretch of the ring road, at a length of almost 250 miles covering most of the east coast of Iceland.
We hit the road running after getting breakfast at the gas station. this was our usual routine for Iceland, as we fell in love with the yogurt that is exclusive in Iceland. The first stop of the day was one of the most amazing sites in all of Iceland. This is called the Black sand beach, and aside from the sand being almost black, it features magnificent oceanic columns,a nd hexagonal volcanic basalt Columns on the beach for a great photo opportunity. This is what is so great about the ring road, that so much of today was located so close to the main area.
This was a great start to the day. We were to be at the Vatnojokul National park/ glacier on this stretch in about 3 hours to hike Svartifoss. Before we arrived at the falls and the parks, we had one detour to take..and I am so glad we did! There was a canyon called the Fjadrargljufur Canyon. This was such an amazing and Epic view, that I recommend anyone in Iceland to take a 10 minute detour form the Ring Road to check out. This canyon has an eerie look to it but an absolute beautiful view! It was time to go onward to the National park now!
This drive was amazing. The majority of it was across the enormous glacier and that was almost 50 miles wide, but mostly covered in dirt yet you could tell the blue ice coming through the glacier was frozen solid. We were too far from it however to go exploring by foot on it. Unfortunately I believe I may have got a speeding ticket on this section which I found out later when I went home. Nonetheless, word to the wise…. go the speed limit since they have hidden cameras all over the island!
We finally arrived at the trailhead to go to Svartifoss. This once again is another famous part of Iceland, which one can see often in tourist brochures and such. The famous waterfall is known for the hexagonal columns around the falling waters is a hike about 2 miles and was the longest one of the day. We climbed and took pictures for about an hour and the hike was done. We decided to take pictures looking back towards the waterfall while we all stood on the top which was epic in its own right. The weather was over cast all day so it was gloomy, and more weather was moving in. Once we were done it was time to hit the road again. We were heading back to the main road to head east, and it was time to see the famous Jokulsarlon and its little brother called Fjarlsarlon. This was also a glacier lagoon.
We were not expecting to see the amazing blue of this lake. The first one was the little brother to the larger lake, and we thought that was spectacular, then I realized we hadn’t seen the real lake up the road, and I decided to park the car on the side of the road and climb the hill to see what we were missing. Once we climbed to the top we saw this vast blue glacier filled lake which was absolutely spectacular. We were extremely excited and happy to have been here. This was by far the best part up to this point of the day. We walked around the front of the lake, and took many pictures and videos. we couldn’t believe the beauty of this and that it even existed.
Once we returned to the car we had to cross a river via the bridge, and I realize the river flows from the lake to the ocean, and then also realized these glaciers float out to see like little blue boats almost every minute. A very unique view and experience.
We decided it was time to head to the hotel for the night and since we had about 3 hours of daylight and 100 miles left to drive we focused on getting there before dark. This turned out to be one of the best drives, and road trip experiences I have ever had in my life of travel.
To get to Eglistador we had to follow the ring road around the coast. This was one of the most adventurous journeys Ive ever had. The road started among the fjord lands and glacier that we left, but it meandered around the mountains. Upon reaching the area of black sand beaches I realized this was where they ride horses on instagram. The water looks deep and black but the bay is actually only a couple inches deep and is one of the most visited stops along the ring road. We stopped for a nice picture and had to continue. Down the road we came across lodging for Jarrett. Once Jarrett found a point to camp which was about 30 miles from our hotel, we left him, and decided to head to our hotel. There were low hanging clouds during this time.
We had to take the alternate by way to to the city upon leaving him, and I was not expecting the incredible drive we were to do. Because of the clouds and the ascension we had to do to reach our area, I didn’t see our road most of the time. But I was able to see the green mossy road side and in that scenario at dusk is was a magical yet eery experience. This drive had many small waterfalls along the steam we drove, and finally once we reach the top the dirt road intersected with a paved road for us to head into the town. This road was the last 20 miles of the journey, and as we started the descent we escaped the clouds, and then the sun shone through. This was spectacular as the snow caped mountains emerged from the land and we were driving in this golden valley at sunset. I rolled the windows down and soaked in the fresh air. This was truly an experience of a lifetime that neither picture nor words could bring to feel. This was where we found our inn for the night. This was another great experience.
Iceland does not have a network of cables due to high volcanic activity, thus the primitive towns need a satellite based system for commerce. we were able to use apple pay to buy a candy bar at an inn that was 200 miles from civilization. This was pretty cool! This inn was called… and I highly recommend it for 85$ we were able to get breakfast and a wonderful room with a great view during this trip. This was actually my favorite hotel this trip by far! we were relaxed, cleaned, and warm for the rest of the night. We decided to cook one of our dried food meals for dinner, and that was enough for us with some snacks purchased at the hotel.
EXPENSES
11.31 coffee snacks
45.62 gas
4.53 snack
91.32 hotel
64.78 hotel
26.92 Lunch
10.22 snack gs
Total- 254.70